Angus and Betty McDougall Center for Photojournalism Studies

The Center’s purpose is to preserve for archival, research and educational use collections of photographs by newspaper, magazine and documentary photographers. It establishes the Missouri Photojournalism Archive, providing educational programming from the archive of Angus McDougall and other individual photographers, while sustaining and expanding educational efforts of existing Missouri programs, POYi, CPOY, MPW.

  • The Center is funded through proceeds from an endowment established by Angus and Betty McDougall, with infrastructure support from the Missouri School of Journalism.
  • Materials will be stored at University Records Managment; as the work is scanned and readied for the active electronic archive, original materials will be stored in cold storage or best available storage. A goal of the Center will be to construct optimum space for the collection.
  • These programs – the Missouri Photo Workshop, Pictures of the Year International, College Photographer of the Year Competition and the Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame – resonate with the Missouri Photojournalism Archive initiative but each will maintain its identity.
  • A Missouri Photojournalism Archive selection committee will review photographers’ work presented for inclusion; criteria for selection will include significance of work and may include complete bodies of work or special projects.
  • A special publishing fund within the McDougall Center will endeavor to print books from some accepted materials and sustain the Rivertown book series.
Cliff Edom and Angus McDougall

A Conversation, An Idea

When Mac and Betty approached us about making a gift to the Photojournalism Department at the Missouri School of Journalism, we did not imagine the magnitude of their generosity.

Gradually it became clear that they had a desire to make a real difference in the education of future photojournalists. And, they wanted to establish something that would house Mac’s wonderful archive of photographs – and to create an opportunity for others to do the same. Newspaper and magazine and documentary photographers need a place to “park” their work – where they know it will be looked after, cared for and be mined for education and research.

Angus McDougall and Howard Sochchurek-Milwaukee Journal

A Legacy for Photojournalism

The three distinct areas of Angus McDougall’s professional life are as a staff photographer in the 1940s and 1950s at the Milwaukee Journal, as photographer and picture editor at International Harvester magazines and as an educator in the 1970s and 1980s at the University of Missouri. He is the author, with Gerald Hurley, of Visual Impact in Print, still considered the premier photo editing text some 40 years after its publication. Mac has also authored three other books.

For years before coming to teach at Missouri Mac was integral to the operation of the Missouri Photo Workshop, working alongside Cliff and Vi Edom.
Betty and Mac are life-partners – he has relied on her to be his best critic and advisor and their devotion to each other is inspirational.

In the spirit of pioneering photojournalism education and establishing credibility for photographers as visual news gatherers, we are proud to announce the creation of the Missouri Photojournalism Archive. Photojournalists now have a secure and productive home for their life work, a place that treasures photography and will endeavor to connect it with new audiences.

Solving the Space Issues

The Photojournalism Lab in Lee Hills Hall will be fully updated for the digital age and will create space for the Angus and Betty McDougall Center for Photojournalism Studies. Only a glass wall will separate the Lab from the Center, making possible a vibrant synergy between archive work, gallery displays and the day-to-day education of students.

Mac’s influence as a teacher will continue to be felt not only through the archive of his work, but also in the intense interactions between faculty and students and among students during the dialogue and critique that are so much his hallmark. The layout of the remodeled space is designed to foster and enhance this educational approach. We will maintain a “legacy darkroom” and will be able to develop film and to make traditional silver-paper prints. The lab will also have digital video editing bays, high end digital printers, audio and video recording studios and an equipment checkout locker.
The McDougall Center will have not only the gallery but also a receiving and work area -where materials being accepted into the archive can be catalogued and digitized for educational use.

Key Aspects of the Renovation

*click on image of the floor plan at left to see an enlarged version
  1. New hallway entrance directly into the McDougall Center
  2. Glass doors and wall allow physical and visual access from the Lab to the McDougall Gallery
  3. Digital and print displays in Gallery, as well as electronic access to Missouri Photojournalism Archive
  4. Receiving/processing area in McDougall Center provides efficient and secure area for digitizing and cataloguing incoming collections
  5. Permanent historical display in outer hallway for cameras, photographs, significant artifacts
  6. Photojournalism Lab will:
    • have both audio recording and video recording studios
    • accommodate 15-person lab sections with computer work stations and two wall-mounted displays
    • have five high end digital video editing bays
    • have three large digital printers and dedicated work area
    • continue to have equipment checkout locker
    • sustain legacy darkroom for processing film and making prints

Integrating Research and Teaching

With the close proximity of the Photojournalism Lab and the McDougall Center comes a wealth of opportunities for students – as Research Assistants to help in cataloguing and presenting the work online, doing oral histories with contributing photographers and using the photography in academic research. The more the archives are made accessible, the more inspiring they can become to today’s students, and the more prepared they can become to carry on the Missouri traditions of honest visual reporting while continually looking for ways to make it more effective and meaningful.

Rotating exhibits in the McDougall Gallery will inspire students and be open to the general public. Designed for convenient and inexpensive changes, it will incorporate both digital and print presentations.

How is the McDougall Center Funded?

Mac and Betty’s gift is a combination of an outright cash gift and an estate gift that has enabled us to establish an endowment fund for the Center so that it will live in perpetuity. We are starting the program now. We need your assistance to create the physical space for the Center, which will be a gallery for display of photographs from the archive and a work area for scanning and cataloging new work. We’re able to do this because we are renovating the current Photojournalism Lab in the ground floor of Lee Hills Hall – bringing it up to the current digital standards and reorganizing space. We have blueprints in hand and need to raise funds for making it happen. We have had wonderful response from some alumni already.

Ray Wong, a former student of Mac’s and a Missouri graduate, wrote after seeing a news release in January about the McDougall’s gift: “…I read with great interest about the McDougall Center – a great tribute to Mac and Betty…. Mardy and I also would like to help support the Center too. What do I need to do?”

They made a meaningful donation that reflected the influence Mac and Missouri had on Ray’s life. You can, too.

We Need Your Help

We need your help to reach our $300,000 goal to begin the renovation. Please call or write if you have questions about how your gift can be made – over five years if you like – and how your employer might be able to match the donation you make.
Pledge your participation now!

David Rees
Director McDougall Center &
Chair Photojournalism Faculty,
ReesD@missouri.edu • (573) 882-3635

http://mcdougallcenter.missouri.edu