Ray Garner

Ray Garner (1913–1989) was an American filmmaker and photographer born in Brooklyn. He began his career in 1935 filming a Boy Scout expedition in the Grand Tetons. In 1937, he became the staff photographer for NYU’s Rainbow Bridge-Monument Valley expedition. A year later, he traveled to the Belgian Congo with his wife and collaborator, Virginia “Jinny” Garner, to create ten films for the Harmon Foundation, which supported African American achievements. The foundation, run by Mary Beattie Brady, funded many of Garner’s projects, though payments were irregular and informal.

From 1955 to 1958, Garner toured as a lecturer using his films. In the 1960s, he worked with NBC News and later directed segments for ABC’s Saga of Western Man. He eventually returned to lecturing and settled in Idyllwild, California, where he also taught mountaineering.