New Center to Preserve and Showcase Historical Photojournalism Collections
Columbia, Mo. (Nov. 30, 2007) — An unparalleled documentary photojournalism resource at the Missouri School of Journalism will be dedicated next September during the centennial of the School and the dedication of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute.
The Angus and Betty McDougall Center for Photojournalism Studies, named for the renowned photography innovator and educator and his wife, will preserve collections of photographs by newspaper, magazine and documentary photographers. The images will be available for archival, research, exhibition and educational use.
In making the gift, McDougall said, “Photojournalism deserves the recognition and accessibility for study that is given fine art photography.” He led the School’s photojournalism sequence and served as director of the Pictures of the Year competition from 1972-1982.
The new McDougall Center is funded through proceeds from an endowment established by the McDougalls in 2007. It will be located in space to be renovated in Lee Hills Hall on the University of Missouri campus. The gift supports 100 by 100: The Centennial Campaign for the Missouri School of Journalism, an effort to increase financial commitments to the School’s endowment to $100 million by 2008.
The McDougall Center will create the online Missouri Photojournalism Archive, comprised of collections of photographs, oral histories, writings and other materials from individual photographers. The work of Angus McDougall will be the first to be catalogued and made available. Subsequently, the archive will grow by invitation to selected Missouri photojournalism alumni and other friends of the program.
The Center also will make the following photography collections – currently managed by the School – available electronically:
- The Pictures of the Year International (POYi), which has 40,000 images of the best newspaper and magazine work from the world’s oldest photojournalism competition, founded in 1944.
- The College Photographer of the Year (CPOY), established in 1945.
- The Missouri Photo Workshop, a collection of more than 10,000 images chronicling life in small Missouri towns, established in 1949.
Since its founding, the School has studied, recognized and celebrated the work of the world’s pre-eminent photographers,” said David Rees, photojournalism chair and Center director. “The McDougalls’ generosity and vision now will allow us to collect, organize and make searchable thousands of important images for study by photographers, researchers and our faculty and students.”
Mark Petty, BJ ’75, a former student of McDougall, noted the importance of the McDougall gift from a historical perspective.
“Angus’ photographic career spanned the transformation from 4″ x 5″ Speed Graphics to 35mm. Now digital images are replacing film, and the black and white silver-based print is now a thing of the past,” said Petty, who owns M. Petty Photography in Gulfport, Fla. “It is a testament to Angus and Betty that they are creating an archive where his work, the work of his peers and the work of those inspired by him may be viewed and studied in perpetuity. For this we, and those who follow us, owe Angus and Betty a great deal.”
The McDougall Center will work collaboratively with the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, located at the School. The Institute engages media professionals, scholars and other citizens in programs aimed at improving the practice and understanding of journalism in democratic societies.
100 by 100: The Centennial Campaign for the Missouri School of Journalism seeks to raise endowments to strengthen Missouri’s position as the world’s premier school of journalism. Endowment earnings benefit all areas of the School, including the media laboratories, faculty salaries, technology and scholarships. Outright contributions, estate commitments and planned gifts such as charitable trusts and gift annuities made before Dec. 31, 2008, will be recognized in the campaign total.
Additional information about the dedication of the McDougall Center during the Sept. 10-12, 2008, centennial-dedication celebration will be available next summer. For questions about this gift or others, contact Rees or Colin Kilpatrick, the School’s executive director of advancement.
McDougall Set Standards of Excellence
Angus “Mac” McDougall has set standards of excellence in photography, photo editing and photojournalism education. As a Milwaukee Journal photographer, he was an innovator in the use of high-speed strobe technology and in using multiple pictures to tell stories. McDougall tested his theories of visual communication and formed many of his principles of picture editing as associate editor of International Harvester World, a Chicago-based corporate magazine. He co-authored the definitive picture-editing book, Visual Impact in Print, and Picture Editing and Layout. His other book, A Photo Journal, is a rich chronicle of his newspaper photography from the 1940s and 1950s. McDougall taught hundreds of students during his 10 years as head of the Missouri School of Journalism photojournalism sequence and director of the Pictures of the Year competition. He pressed his photo students to become adept in all aspects of journalism (especially visual reporting, writing, design and management) so that they would have the credibility to cause change in newsroom thinking. Many of his students moved into leadership roles in the nation’s metropolitan newspapers. McDougall’s legacy is meaningful photography, images that speak to one’s emotions and can convey a message with or without words. McDougall and his partner in life and work, Betty, live in Columbia, Mo.
Updated: April 21, 2020