Any tips for great History of Photography programs?

[MyWorkIsDone]

Hey all! I posted a question yesterday about the feasibility of going straight for a PhD from undergrad. Today I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on actual programs to look at for specializing in the history of photography. At this point I'm looking for a mix of MA and PhD programs (although I really want the PhD, I figure it's best to have some backups just in case they don't want me). I'm looking at UNM, UT Austin, Harvard, Columbia, Yale, and some CUNYs. I'm still a third year undergrad so I have some time to narrow this down. Does anyone have any opinions on the programs I've mentioned or ideas for other ones for me to look at?

Thanks!!

[LLajax]

Brown also has a strong history of photography program- don't count them out!

[mf2232]

check out rutgers

[Eggleston]

What are your interests in photography? Since you'd be applying (at the PhD level, at least) to work with a specific professor/group of professors, you can begin to narrow down your list by looking at the courses those professors teach, as well as their publications. Try to get a sense of whether their interests and (more importantly) their methods appeal to you. Another thing to consider is whether any given school would provide you with a community of other photo history students- some schools have only a handful of students studying the subject, while others (like Brown and BU) have quite a handful.

As for free-standing MAs, you should keep looking at UNM (Zuromskis), Arizona (Albers), BU (Sichel), Tufts (McTighe), and SUNY Stonybrook.

For PhDs look into Brown (Nickel), Harvard (Kelsey), Columbia (Alberro, Elcott), Princeton (McCauley), UCLA (Baker), UCSB (Keller), Penn (Silverman, Beckman) and Rutgers (Sheehan, Zervigon)- and BU also has a PhD in addition to the terminal MA. I'd recommend Chicago but Joel Snyder is currently chair of the department and hasn't taken a student in a few years now.

^The specialties and approaches of these individuals, as well as the resources their institutions have, vary incredibly widely. Since you have quite a bit of time left in your undergrad, I'd suggest trying to narrow down your list to a selection of both MAs and PhDs (even if you think they're "reach" programs) where the interests/approaches of the particular faculty members are to your liking, and go from there. Good luck!

[MyWorkIsDone]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I hadn't considered Rutgers, but I had no idea Zervigon was even there--I've been using his work on John Heartfield for a thesis paper and I'm kind of obsessed with his ideas right now, so it's pretty exciting to think that he could potentially be my advisor!

[mrb1145]

John Pultz at Kansas: http://www2.ku.edu/~kuarthis/faculty/pultz.htm

[losemygrip]

UNM and Princeton have reputations in photo history. I actually have a personality conflict with Anne McCauley, but others I known who've worked with her absolutely loved her.

For the MA level, Arizona is BIG into photo, so that's a good option.

You should send Eggleston a fruit basket for doing all that good research for you.

[Bearcat1]

Susan Laxton at UC Riverside I hear is really great, and the program is affiliated with the California Museum of Photography. (That's a terminal MA, and they do have fairly good funding. Great, actually, for an MA program.)

[linneastephan]

Hi All, 

Reading this thread in 2020 and wondering if anyone committed to any History of Photography MA programs that they can report back on? International or in the United States. I'm noticing several in the UK. Cheers! 

[femmeflaneur]

I am also reading this thread in 2020 and would love to second linneastephan's question! I have looked at this thread often over the years in my search for programs in this specialty. If anyone has any new developments or updates to the suggestions above, I would love to hear about them! Particularly curious about MA programs, since so many schools are not accepting PhD students next cycle.

[brooketrout]

I would suggest looking at University of Delaware's terminal MA and/or PhD program. You could work with Jason Hill there (https://www.arthistory.udel.edu/people/faculty/hill).