Dorothy Norman is best known as the "unofficial keeper" of Alfred Stieglitz's legacy; she recorded his thoughts, published two volumes of testimonials about his place in American life, and wrote the definitive biography—Alfred Stieglitz: An American Seer—which was published in 1973. Despite the fact that both were married when they met, Stieglitz would become a friend, mentor, and lover, and their association would continue until his death, in 1946. Until recently, that association has overshadowed the facts of Norman's substantial life: her poetry and critical writings, her dedication to the causes of civil liberties and Indian independence, and her enormous, if relatively unknown, talents as a photographer.

Norman's political and artistic interests were combined in Twice A Year: A Semi-Annual Journal of Literature, the Arts and Civil Liberties, which she founded in 1938. The first issue contained articles by Norman, Rainer Maria Rilke, Thoreau, Malraux, Ignazio Silone, e.e. cumming, Kafka, and Anais Nin, and photographs by Stieglitz.

Norman did not consider herself a professional photographer. She photographed for personal reasons, making portraits of friends and loved ones from the world of politics and the arts—Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Thomas and Katie Mann, John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, Bernard Berenson, Albert Einstein, Elia Kazan, Lewis Mumford, and Sherwood Anderson. She photographed the places she cherished—trees in Woods Holes, churches in Falmouth, the New York harbor and Rockefeller Center—and the interior of An American Place, Stieglitz's last gallery. She created an extended portrait study of Stieglitz, as he did of her.

Norman's work is characterized by a clarity of vision, beautiful use of light and shadow (especially in the interior studies), and masterful printing techniques learned under the tutelage of Stieglitz and Edward Steichen. Her small, simple prints—private, quiet, intimate—have drawn comparison to the poems of Emily Dickinson.

Works in the collection are from Dorothy Norman: Selected Photographs, a portfolio of 14 images published in 1995 by Double Elephant Editions, Ltd. The portfolio is a gift of Richard J. Hiller ('66) and Marsha Hurst ('67).