The Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University is seeking to identify the subjects in the Edward Stanton Photographs, a large selection of photographs taken by Detroit-born photographer Edward Stanton in Detroit’s Black Bottom and Paradise Valley neighborhoods during the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Many of the Edward Stanton Photographs are part of a series — shot throughout several seasons — that features portraits of local children, both posed and at play, as well as neighborhood views. These stunning images offer a rare glimpse into what it was like growing up in two of Detroit’s earliest black neighborhoods, Black Bottom and Paradise Valley, before they were lost to urban renewal projects in the 1960s.

“When we received these photos from the donor, we couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that these were neighborhoods where real people lived and led full and interesting lives. We’d love to put a name to these faces so that we can document those stories that haven’t been told,” said Elizabeth Clemens, audiovisual archivist at the Reuther Library.

Highlights from the collection will be on display in the Reuther Library’s Woodcock Wing through July 2016. A large selection of images has been digitized and is available to view in the Edward Stanton Image Gallery on the Reuther Library’s website at reuther.wayne.edu/image/tid/1983. For more information on the Edward Stanton Photographs or other related material, please contact an audiovisual archivist at reutherav@wayne.edu.

The Walter P. Reuther Library is the largest labor archive in North America and is the official archival repository for numerous unions and labor-related organizations. Its collection strengths extend to the political and community life of urban and metropolitan Detroit, the civil rights movement in Michigan and nationally, and women's struggles in the workplace. The Reuther Library is also the home of the Wayne State University Archives, established by the Board of Governors in 1958.

The Wayne State University Library System consists of the university's five libraries: The David Adamany Undergraduate Library, the Purdy/Kresge Library, the Shiffman Medical Library, the Arthur Neef Law Library and the Reuther Library and the School for Library and Information Science.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 380 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 27,000 students.