Wesleyan College and Michigan State University awarded National Endowment for the Humanities

MACON, GA — Wesleyan College and Michigan State University have been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant in the category of Humanities Collections and Reference Resources. The May 8, 2025 NEH press release announced the $349,605.00 grant in support of the Fernando La Rosa Photographic Archive (FLRPA). Wesleyan College Archivist Virginia Blake and a team of undergraduate students will process approximately 22,500 FLRPA photographic images (spanning 1965-2017) to preserve, digitize, archivally rehouse, and create metadata which enhances broad research value.

The ultimate goal will be a public facing website (created and hosted by Michigan State University’s Matrix Digital Humanities program) which will provide public international research access to the photography archive of a Peruvian/United States photographic artist.

Fernando La Rosa (born 1943 Perú – died 2017 Macon, Georgia) and his wife Frances de La Rosa (FLRPA steward and copyright holder), moved to Macon, Georgia in 1998 to teach in the Art Department of Wesleyan College, where he taught until 2 weeks prior to his death.

In 1976, La Rosa founded Secuencia Foto-Galeria in Lima, Perú which was the first school and gallery dedicated to fine art photography in Latin America. From 1979 to 1985, La Rosa taught at Parsons School of Design in New York City and their affiliated campus in the Dominican Republic, and from 1988 to 1994 he taught photography at Newcomb College School of Art at Tulane University, where he also received his Master of Fine Arts.

The Fernando La Rosa Photographic Archive contains images which document Andean and Indigenous communities in Perú, Pre-Columbian archeological sites in Perú and Mexico, culturally significant artists and writers, and urban and rural life in North and South America, and the Caribbean. Outside of the Americas, La Rosa photographed in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, and South Korea.

The FLRPA project director and Matrix Associate Director, Candace Keller, and the FLRPA application team celebrated the validation of their successful application; awarded on the first application attempt (uncommon) and for the amount requested (slightly under the maximum request allowed of ($350,000.00). The work on this two year project will begin on Wesleyan’s campus on September 1, 2025.

Wesleyan College is the first college in the world chartered to grant degrees to women. Accelerating equality for women since 1836, Wesleyan provides students with an academically rigorous education in an environment designed to build the strength and resiliency to thrive. Learn more at www.wesleyancollege.edu.

Media Contact: Harrison Tarr

(678) 899-1525

mtarr@wesleyancollege.edu

For further background on the photographic work of Fernando La Rosa, please visit his website ( https://fernandolarosa.com/home.html ) or contact Frances de La Rosa at fdelarosa@wesleyancollege.edu.

Fernando La Rosa, 2016, Ocmulgee River, Macon, Georgia. Photo by Frances de La Rosa