Kate Schlesinger is an archivist, photography editor, researcher, and writer.
Kate is dedicated to the sustainable management, preservation, and access of photographs, objects, and documents. She will complete her Master's in Library Sciences and Information with a focus on Archival Studies from the University of Arizona in December 2022. In 2020 she earned a Graduate Certificate in Archival Studies from the university. Kate completed hands-on internships at the Skirball Cultural Center and the Autry Museum Libray and Archives, both in Los Angeles. Additionally, Kate presented her work on trauma-informed archival labor at the Society of American Archives and the California Society of Archivists.
Kate most recently cataloged an important private collection of mid-century African-American and Hispanic art using Catalogit. She served as archivist for a privately held photo collection belonging to the family of a late Hollywood magnate. Since 2010, Katherine has scanned and archived approximately 20,000 assets including photographs and documents, and created a sustainable and accessible physical and digital archive of the materials for use in exhibitions and books.
Kate has a deep knowledge of the history of photography. She began her photo career as a photo researcher at Magnum Archives, New York, the active repository of the works of many of the greatest 20th-century photojournalists including Henri Cartier- Bresson, Robert Capa, Susan Mieselas, Danny Lyon, and Bruce Davidson. At that time she studied the art and science of photographic archiving at the International Center for Photography, where she began a network of other like-minded photography archivists, researchers, editors, and curators, all passionate about photographs and all with the highest visual and working standards. Kate edited her first photography book, Guatemala:, Eternal Spring, Eternal Tyranny by photojournalist Jean Marie Simon.
Based on her visual acuity and archival experience Kate was selected to work with Weston Naef, then Curator of Photography at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to serve as the Coordinator of Photographic Research for a series of twelve books on the history of photography. Kate organized a physical archive of over 100,000 copy prints culled by a team of researchers from the most prestigious museums, private collections, and archives worldwide. Kate herself undertook the research at many key 19th and 20th century collections including the archives at the Gernsheim Collection at the University of Texas, Austin, The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, and numerous private collections and galleries in New York City.
Kate’s next position was photography researcher at Vanity Fair magazine, where she used her archival savvy and photographic keenness to find delightful images of the famous and infamous, past and present She was nicknamed ”Dick Tracey” due to her tenacious ability to find and obtain rights for often previously unseen, stunning images. Her work was brought to the attention of Anna Wintour, Editor in Chief of Vogue Magazine, who hired Kate to work with her on a series of special photography projects. Soon after, Kate was appointed Vogue’s first Features Photography Editor, and was privileged to work on a daily basis with the legendary Creative Director, Alexander Liberman. Kate spent 6 years organizing and producing photography sessions with the world’s top photographers and searching out fresh, new talents. Together they created images to accompany the magazine’s feature stories on world-famous persons, arts, news, food, and style. While at Vogue, Kate studied art history with Robert Rosenblum and Kurt Varnedoe, and curated an exhibition at NYU Art Gallery, Photographers Who Make Films.
Kate forwarded her career by obtaining an MBA from UCLA in Non- Profit and Arts Management. During her graduate school years, she was contracted to work as the photo editor of Dance Ink Magazine, a privately funded fine art magazine dedicated to writing, photography and visual art related to the world's finest dancers and choreographers. Katherine commissioned dozens of stunning photographs for the publication, which was nominated for the National Magazine Award in Photographic Excellence.
Kate transitioned her visual organizational skills into advertising and marketing, working for over 10 years working with top art directors from Saatchi & Saatchi on international fine wine and spirit accounts. She lived for ten years in New Zealand where she continued to produce photography shoots for Dance Ink and Twice magazine, introducing photographers from that region. Upon returning to the USA, she was a member of an international digital team effort to produce the prototype for New Zealand Magazine.
Most recently Kate is a contributing writer for the Magnum Foundation's upcoming publication, Paul Fusco: Political America. Kate undertook in-depth research on the events and times depicted and wrote the contextual historical texts for the book.
Photographs copyright top to bottom: Still from Man Ray's L'Etoile de Mer from "Photographers Who Make Films" exhibition, Duane Michaels, Jean Marie Simon, Andrew Eccles.
