Scope and Contents

The collection consists of exhibit panels and images compiled by George Carrano for his exhibit titled Philip Jones Griffiths: 50 Years on the Frontlines.

Biographical / Historical

George Carrano (1942–2025), a native New Yorker, did graduate studies in economics in the 1960s and 1970s and lived for several years in Sweden while his draft case was being adjudicated. He subsequently worked for the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority for twenty-five years, where he helped develop the Metrocard fare system before going to work for the Ogilvy Mather advertising agency. In 1999, he turned to developing visual arts projects with a humanitarian bent, including curating a Philip Jones Griffiths gallery exhibition in 2005 in the Chelsea district of New York City. The pictures of the American war in Vietnam were lauded in The New York Times: "They amount to one of the great tragic portraits of their time and are required viewing in ours."

Philip Jones Griffiths was born in Rhuddlan, Denbighshire, Wales on 18 February 1936. He studied pharmacy in Liverpool and practiced in London while photographing part-time for the Manchester Guardian. In 1961, he became a full-time freelancer for the London Observer. He covered the Algerian War in 1962 and then was based in Central Africa before moving to Asia. He photographed the Vietnam War beginning in 1966, publishing his first book Vietnam, Inc. in 1971. He then wrote Agent Orange: Collateral Damage in Vietnam (2004) - which documents the casualties of Agent Orange use among Vietnamese civilians - and Vietnam at Peace (2005) - which documents Vietnam's post-war decades of hardship, progress, change, and hope. Select photographs used in Griffiths' books are included in the exhibit materials developed by George Carrano.