Navigating The Camille Billops and James V. Hatch Archives

By Charmaine Branch (she/her), PhD Candidate in Art History at Princeton University with a Graduate Certificate in African American Studies. 

This August I visited the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University to study the formation of Hatch-Billops Collection Inc. In 1975, Camille Billops and James V. Hatch founded an archive dedicated to the preservation and celebration of Black art and culture, turning their SoHo loft into a multipurpose space for gatherings, research, and viewing art. The couple worked together to host numerous events including interviews with renowned artists as part of their Artist & Influence series. Billops and Hatch were artists themselves who took up the task of documenting the work of their peers while simultaneously pursuing their creative projects. As an art historian, I am particularly interested in the significant role they both played in supporting Black visual artist communities by cultivating a thriving cultural hub in the living room of their home. At Emory University I spent time reviewing information in the Camille Billops and James V. Hatch archives and the James V. Hatch and Camille Billops papers to gain a better understanding of their approach to gathering, maintaining, and preserving invaluable knowledge about Black visual art in a time when many artists of African descent were frequently excluded from well-funded, mainstream art institutions. 

After reading through the exhibition catalog Still Raising Hell: The Art, Activism, and Archives of James V. Hatch and Camille Billops, which was published alongside the 2016 exhibition at Rose Library by the same name, I was intent on reviewing the slide collection of photographs Billops and Hatch took of exhibitions, artwork, gatherings, and more. Billops was known for arriving at exhibition openings with a camera in hand, capturing celebratory moments in the New York City art world. I was able to look through a sample box of slides that included images of Billops’s ceramics meticulously labeled in her handwriting. Another set of slides contained photographs of a gallery packed with people mingling about and viewing the paintings on the walls. One slide labeled “family” featured a woman casually leaning against the interior wall of a building and gazing upwards. These different aspects of Billops and Hatch’s lives exist alongside each other in their archive. Unfortunately, the slides are not part of the current finding aid, so I was not able to decipher how expansive the collection is. It would be wonderful to return to this material in the future once a finding aid is available.

I also reviewed the prints and posters collection, which contains a substantial array of signed pieces that offer glimpses into the New York City art scene of the 1970s and 80s. A poster from The People’s Flag Show at the Judson Memorial Church in 1970 organized by artists Faith Ringgold, Jean Toche, and Jon Hendricks can be found in the same folder as a signed 1953 linocut by Dr. Margaret Burroughs. Exhibitions and events hosted by The Studio Museum in Harlem appear repeatedly. I was curious about their 1976 exhibition “Family Album” featuring an archival photograph of a young mother and her children as well as an advertisement for their first annual “Lewis H. Michaux Book Fair.” These are not events I have encountered in published scholarship, but they are part of the cultural currents that shaped the late 20th Century.

Another important poster that caught my eye was an advertisement for a series of workshops titled “The Festival of Small Collectors” hosted by the Hatch-Billops Collection and Dr. Lorraine Brown in 1980. The event showcases how the couple utilized their resources to encourage others to also become caretakers of history. In my search for more information about the events hosted at the loft, I also reviewed the three Artist & Influence guest books that include the name and date of interviews spanning from the early 1970s to 2011 as well as the signatures of everyone who attended. It was incredible to see who was in the audience at the 1984 “Black Artists Panel” featuring visual artists Betty Blayton, Tom Lloyd, Ademola Olugebefola, William T. Williams, Mahler Ryder, Tyrone Mitchell, and Ted Gunn.

By delving into the nuances of the collection, I was able to gain insight into the complex compilation of materials that Billops and Hatch sought to conserve and share with the public. While I was particularly interested in information pertaining to the visual arts, there is much to explore concerning film, theater, music, and other art forms. I encourage researchers to review material in the Camille Billops and James V. Hatch archives and the James V. Hatch and Camille Billops papers side-by-side, as the two collections work together to provide a deeper understanding of the underlying principles that guided Hatch and Billops’s endeavors. With their diverse holdings, both collections serve as valuable resources for anyone invested in learning about Black art and culture. 

[1] The slides are not searchable in the Camille Billops and James V. Hatch archives finding aid, but you can request to view a sample of the collection. 

[2] Camille Billops and James V. Hatch archives, OP20, Printed ephemera, circa 1890s-2204, Posters and artwork, 1965-2002

[3] Camille Billops and James V. Hatch archives, OP16, Printed ephemera, circa 1890s-2204, Posters and artwork, 1965-2002

[4] Camille Billops and James V. Hatch archives, OP16, Printed ephemera, circa 1890s-2204, Posters and artwork, 1965-2002 

[5] James V. Hatch and Camille Billops papers, Box 29, Unprocessed additions, James V. Hatch subject files