Charles Barnwell, Longtime Staff Member and Photographer, 1929-2017
U of C’s Charles Barnwell dies; experimented with photography
Charles Barnwell generated the photocopies at the University of Chicago law school, where his curiosity and intelligence made him a polymath able to converse with any professor on subjects ranging from the Monroe Doctrine to the U.S. space program.
“I always wondered, how do you relate to those professors at the law school? But he was a pretty smart guy. He loved to read,” consuming three newspapers a day, and books on history and science fiction, said his son Steve.
“He was never intimidated by anybody on the job, those big professors,” said his daughter Gail.
On the side, Mr. Barnwell dabbled in photography. He collected cameras, started a photography club and built a home darkroom. “That was his man cave,” his son said.
He experimented with lighting and hand-tinting pictures, like the image he took of himself looking as snazzy as the famed musicians he followed in his 20s when they performed at the Regal theater and the Club DeLisa, known as “the Harlem of Chicago.”
Read more at Chicago Sun-Times