Kay Cain papers

Kay Cain (1910-1996) was born Katherine Tolson, daughter of John D. and Margaret Crews Tolson, in Missouri. She graduated Central College (later Central Methodist University) in Fayette, Missouri, and married writer Paul A. Cain (1911-1972). The couple lived in St. Louis before moving to Atlanta in the early 1940s. Paul Cain worked as a journalist for W. R. C. Smith Publishing. Kay Cain, a skilled photographer who had worked as a reporter in Missouri, began work as an Atlanta Constitution staff photographer in the fall of 1942. For the Constitution, Cain both accompanied reporters assigned to stories, sometimes working with Jane Noland [Graham] (1922-2002), and shot standalone human interest, real estate, and portrait photographs. Cain's work included shooting news, such as politicians and other dignitaries, as well as fashion, children, and visiting or local celebrities. With World War Two underway, Americans serving in the military and the home front were recurring elements in her Constitution work. During this time, she placed some photos in national publications such as Life, Time, and The Christian Science Monitor. In April 1944, one of Cain’s photos, showing boys supporting the war effort by collecting paper to recycle, won second prize in an American Newspapers Publishers’ Association contest. Her last photograph published in the Constitution appeared that month. The Cains later lived in Dallas, Texas, and ultimately settled in the San Francisco Bay area, where Kay Cain taught at a Montessori school. She died in San Jose, California, survived by a daughter, at the age of 86.