Risley Hall

Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) was one of the preeminent American photographers of the twentieth century. Born in the Bronx, Bourke-White came to Ithaca to finish her education at Cornell University. She became a protégé of Ithaca photographer Henry Head and developed a portfolio of remarkable architectural photographs of the Cornell Campus. She later worked for Henry Luce’s Life magazine, with her photograph on its first cover, and produced dramatic industrial photographs for his newly founded Fortune magazine in the 1930s. She was also the first American female war photojournalist, traveling to combat zones during World War II.

Bourke-White lived in Risley Hall, built as a women's dormitory, on Cornell's North Campus as a student.

Source: History Center in Tompkins County & Cornell Chronicle

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