The Manning Studio Collection contains portrait negatives only, of local, regional, and some out-of-state people. The time period is from 1939 to around 1957.

There are 4307 individual names in the database. The information presented here -- name, date (exact or estimated), address (town & street), negative number -- is taken from the negative envelopes. None of the images are currently available online.

Finding  People

The data is arranged alphabetically by last name (see links below). The listing is "static" so the easiest search is on the last name.  You can use your web browser's "find" function to search for a specific town (useful if outside Greensboro), or maybe a distinct first name. For example:  Are there any people from Troy, N.C.?  A browser "find" search under "A" yields the name: "Armstrong, David -- 1957-- Troy, N.C. -- (neg. #) 36060".

A    |    B-Bo   |  Bp-Bz   |    C-CL   |  Cm-Cz

D    |   E   |   F    |   G   |   H-Hi   |   Hj-Hz

I - J   |   K   |   L   |   M-Mc   |   Md-Mz

O   |   P   |   Q-R   |   S-SL   |   Sm-Sz   |   T

U-V   |    W-Wh    |    Wi-Wz    |   X-Z

The Archives would like to thank volunteer Joe Melvin, who entered all the information from the negative envelopes into this database. 

Studio History

   John Frank Manning (c.1886-1963) moved to Greensboro around 1935, after working during the 1920s as a photographer in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  John's son, Paul, worked for his father intermittently, and took most of the out-of-town photographs.  Although the majority of their business came from Greensboro and Guilford County, they worked throughout the state. The studio was located for most of its history in the 100 block of West Market Street. When John closed the downtown location in the late 1950s, he moved the business for a while to his home at 632 Ashland Drive. 
   The studio focused exclusively on individual portraits. Manning was recognized locally as one of the most accomplished portrait photographers.  Although composed almost entirely of 5x7 inch black and white negatives, the collection does include some finished prints, such as several beautiful hand-colored photographs. This type of work was one of the trademarks of the studio.