Page 44 - 2015 Summer - To Dragma

FromtheArchives

Margaret
Bourke-Whi t e

Renowned photographer Margaret Bourke-White, Omicron Pi (U of Michigan) was born on June 14, 1904 in New
York. Her father, an engineer and builder of printing presses, took his fascinated 5-year-old daughter into work one
day. This first sparked Bourke-White’s interest in documenting industry through photography, which eventually
became the subject for her work. Bourke-White attended several colleges, including Michigan and Cornell. She was
attending Cornell when her father died and she took up selling photographs of the campus as a way to pay for her
tuition. After graduating, she moved to Cleveland, Ohio to open her own photography studio. Initially, her livelihood
depended on photographing clients’ estates and other city buildings, but she continued to take pictures of her true
interest of industry in her free time.

44 • To Dragma Issue no. 3 • Summer 2015