C.B. Neblette collection

Born in 1901, Carroll Bernard Neblette bought his first camera (a brownie box) in his early teens. He attended Illinois College of Photography, before working at Penn State for three years as a college photographer. He then became an assistant editor at The Camera for a year. Neblette moved on to become the head of the technical photography lab at the Agriculture & Mechanical College at University of Texas in the 1920's and stayed there for 7 years, at which time he landed a job with the Eastman Kodak Company in 1930.

Although he felt as though he had left education behind, that September he began teaching photography ‘on loan’ in the fledgling photo tech program at Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute (RIT) in 1931. The program became the largest in the nation as he directed and developed the School of Photography from 1936-1960. Neblette became the first dean of the College of Graphic Arts and Photography in 1960. He retired in 1967, often being referred to as the ‘father of photographic education.’

Over his photographic career he received numerous awards and fellowships to various prestigious associations, including the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, among others. Neblette died in May of 1974 and in his honor, his wife Edith established a fund for the library to purchase materials in the fields of photography and reprography.