Consists of negatives; contact sheets; proofs; prints; slides; indexes; handmade, illustrated books; journals; notebooks; some legal papers; and diaries dating from the 1950's to 1994. The collection documents Gedney's work as a photographer and his bookbinding expertise and interests. The photographs primarily document life in the United States, particularly in New York, rural Kentucky, and San Francisco; life in India, particularly Benares and Calcutta; and American composers. In particular, his U.S. subjects include gays in New York, Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn, and hippies in San Francisco. Two themes in Gedney's oeuvre are his "Night" series and nudes. The "Night" series was created throughout most of Gedney's career and spanned all geographic locations. The nudes were primarily photographed at the Pratt Institute where Gedney taught. The handmade books were designed and made by Gedney and are illustrated with his photographic prints. More than half of the collection's series are photographs, including Negatives, Contact Sheets, Proofs, Prints, Film Development Tests, and Slides (transparencies) series. Since the collection follows Gedney's arrangement by photograph formats, not by subjects, images of most subjects are scattered throughout all of the series in the collection.
