Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these materials, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Matthew Leavitt Photographs #P0113, North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Matthew Leavitt in July 2018 (Acc. 103348).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Stephen Fletcher and Patrick Cullom, September-October 2018

Encoded by: Patrick Cullom, October 2018

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine ethnic identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual’s preference for ethnicity to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@email.unc.edu.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Demonstrations--History--21st century--Photographs.
• Demonstrations--North Carolina--Chapel Hill--Photographs.
• Demonstrations--North Carolina--Durham--Photographs.
• Demonstrations--North Carolina--Raleigh--Photographs.
• Feminism--Photographs.
• Firearms--Law and legislation--Photographs.
• Gun control--Photographs.
• Human rights--History--21st century--Photographs.
• Leavitt, Matthew, 1947-
• March for Our Lives (2018 : Washington, D.C.)--Photographs.
• Protest movements--History--21st century--Photographs.
• Women's March on Washington--(2017)--Photographs.
• Women's rights--History--21st century--Photographs.
• Women--Political activity--Photographs.
• Women--Social conditions--21st century--Photographs.

Matthew Leavitt provided the following biographical information* in October 2018:

Matthew Leavitt was born in New York City in 1947. He attended Boston University and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism with a minor in photojournalism in 1970. He worked in New York in survey research for many years specializing in predictive analysis in the political arena and statistical research in the social sciences. Leavitt moved to rural Maine, where neither work field was possible, and became a computer store owner until the viability of small independent stores disappeared. He moved to North Carolina and Fearrington Village, circa 2009, one of the luckiest, most unplanned decisions in his life.

Leavitt has always been interested in photography, but had become something of a vacation snapshot shooter until the advent, in the early 2000s, of digital photography. The ease with which his computer skills dovetailed with using a digital camera rekindled his love. He has been out taking pictures of eagles, ospreys, herons, hummingbirds (and almost any other kind of bird), butterflies, bees, dragonflies, otters, lizards and reptiles, flowers, landscapes and people ever since. The Women's March in Raleigh in January of 2017 was inspirational for him and he has photographed eight of the subsequent marches, demonstrations and rallies in the triangle. Leavitt has focused on the faces of the participants and the fascinating signs that they carried. He often intentionally used a cellphone camera rather than a digital single lens reflex camera in order to blend into the crowd.

Leavitt is a co-founder of the Fearrington Photography Group, and a member of the Chatham Artists Guild and the Artist Studios at Fearrington Village. He is also a charter member of the Galloway Ridge Artists Collaboration. Leavitt was the featured artist at the Carrboro Art Center "Saving the Pollinators" exhibit 2017 and he had a one-person exhibition of photographs at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences titled "Birds and Butterflies" during the summer of 2018.

*Matthew Leavitt's original text was lightly edited to conform with the style guide in use.

The Matthew Leavitt Photographs consist of images taken by photographer, Matthew Leavitt, depicting scenes from several protests, marches, and rallies on women's rights, gun control, immigration, and science, held in Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh, N.C., between February 2017 and March 2018. Events depicted in the collection include the "No Ban, No Wall, Rally," "Women's Rally," "Womens March," "March for Science," and "March For Our Lives."