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In his autobiography, Malcolm X often mentions carrying numerous cameras around, including a film movie camera. There are also plenty of photos showing him with a camera. However neither his official autobiography nor any websites I could turn up contain any of the photos made by him.

Considering the potential historical importance of the photos he took, where are they stored now? Did they disappear after his death?

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After the death of his wife Betty Shabazz, the New York Public Library acquired Malcolm X's library. This included "22 archival boxes and binders of photographs, slides and negatives", now called The Malcolm X photograph collection. The photographs depict, besides the man himself, many events and places he visited, people he worked with, members of his family, etc. The identity of the photographers appears to mostly not be known. While many of the images were clearly not taken by Malcolm X, those he did take are almost certainly in there too.

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  • In 1997 Betty Shabazz's grandson killed her by setting a fire in her apartment. The fire didn't destroy Malcolm X's library and isn't mentioned in the NYPL's accession document. Were the materials stored off-site? Jul 17, 2017 at 19:23

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