The Lisa Davis Photograph Archive Now on the Portal to Texas History

The Lisa Davis Photograph Archive: Newly Digitized Photos Now Available

Accessible on the Portal to Texas History

Lisa Davis Self Portrait, 1984, AR-2010-022-01-52-017

The Austin History Center invites you to discover the work of photographer Lisa Davis through newly digitized images now available on the Portal to Texas History.

Lisa Davis was a prolific photojournalist, and her archive contains over 29,000 images, taken largely between 1978 and 1995. She documented everything from live music to the first 100 days of Ann Richards’ term as Governor to local high school sports. Her photography was published in local and national magazines and newspapers including Rolling Stone, The New York Times, OUT Magazine, and Austin Chronicle. After battling major depression, Davis took her own life on July 14, 1995, at the age of 32. A memorial service was held for her in Austin at Umlauf Sculpture Gardens, and friends and members of the community gave donations in her memory to Out Youth, an organization founded in 1990 that serves Central Texas LGBTQ youth and their allies.

In 2018, AHC was awarded a Rescuing Texas History Grant to digitize and make accessible 200 images from the Lisa Davis Photograph Archive. Browse the photographs here. To learn more about Lisa Davis and her photography, visit the finding aid for her full collection or rediscover AHC’s 2018 exhibit, We’ll Just Rock for Ourselves, now available online.

Click on the thumbnails below to see some sample images from the collection. All photographs by Lisa Davis.