Billy Ebert Barnes was born in Winston-Salem, N.C., and graduated from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1953. After working as a photographer for McGraw Hill Publishing Company in the late 1950s and early 1960s, he became the Public Relations Director (and official photographer) of the North Carolina Fund. The North Carolina Fund was a state-chartered, non-profit corporation established by Governor Terry Sanford in late 1963 to seek new ways to address the problem of poverty in North Carolina. After his work with the North Carolina Fund ended, he continued to work with several organizations that grew out of the Fund's efforts and did free-lance photography for numerous companies and corporations. As of 2009, he lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., and continues to work as a free-lance photographer. The Billy E. Barnes Photographic Collection contains approximately 63,000 images taken during the early years of Billy Barnes's career from 1959 to 1996. The majority of the images are black-and-white 35mm negatives, but there are also photographic prints and 35mm transparencies (slides). During this part of his career, Barnes worked both as a freelance photographer and as an official photographer for several organizations and companies. Also included are images taken across the state of North Carolina that highlight poverty in both rural and urban areas, racial tension, experiments in integrated education, poverty prevention/alleviation programs, and the social/political changes that occurred in the state during this span of almost four decades. A large portion of the collection documents the activities of the North Carolina Fund (1963-1968) as well as related organizations and programs that outlasted the Fund project. Images were taken across the entire state, but with a concentration in Durham and Orange County. There are also some images of locations outside North Carolina. Barnes's original descriptions are used when available (from personal photographic log) and, whenever possible, individuals, organizations, events, locations, and dates have been identified. Known groups, organizations, and individuals are listed as subject access points, as are identified locations.
