Proximity Partners is dedicated to identifying, preserving, and finding homes for historically significant photographic and archival materials that might otherwise decay or disappear.

Our mission is to ensure that these cultural artifacts are catalogued with care, placed in meaningful and secure locations, and made available to researchers, educators, and the general public. 

Projects

  • Matt Herron photo of Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and other Civil Rights leaders during the Selma-to-Montgomery March

    Finding Homes for Matt Herron Prints

    Cataloguing and finding permanent homes for exhibit prints left by photographer Matt Herron.

  • An image of the Dallas Co. judicial archives, which are housed in a shed behind an Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

    Preserving Public Records

    Piloting a digitization and preservation program for historically significant public records in Alabama.

  • Matt Herron photo of Doris Wilson, of Marion, Ala.

    Living Archive Project

    A community-led initiative to return Civil Rights-era photographs to the places they were taken and the people who appear in them.

  • Matt Herron photo of Poor People's March after assassination of Dr. King

    Assisting Archivists Identify Photo Subjects

    By connecting historical photographs and materials with the communities they document, Proximity Partners helps archivists contextualize and enrich their holdings.

Services

Archival Placement

FOR FAMILIES, ESTATES, AND INDEPENDENT COLLECTORS

• Assessing and taking inventorying of photographic collections
• Identifying institutional or private partners (e.g., museums, private institutions, collectors) • Crafting proposals and materials for discussions about donation or acquisition
• Coordinating logistics of digitization, shipping, and legacy planning
• Advising on estate planning for photographic and documentary materials

Public Records Preservation

FOR MUNICIPALITIES, COUNTIES, AND COMMUNITY GROUPS

• Locating offsite public records
• Assessing storage conditions of legal, civic, or photographic and paper records
• Cataloging and prioritizing historically significant materials for preservation
• Coordinating digitization, archival housing, and/or safe transfer
• Facilitating partnerships with academic institutions, cultural organizations, or archives
• Seeking funding and in-kind support from tech or philanthropic partners

Donor & Institutional Matching

FOR FUNDERS, FOUNDATIONS, AND CORPORATIONS

• Connecting mission-aligned funders with under-the-radar collections or archives in need of support
• Helping philanthropists fund projects with measurable cultural impact
• Advising institutions on collecting practices with ethical frameworks in mind

Storytelling & Interpretation

FOR CURATORS, DOCUMENTARIANS, AND EDUCATORS

• Producing short-form interpretive materials for newly rediscovered collections
• Collaborating on film, podcast, or museum exhibition development
• Providing finding aids, metadata, historical context and research support
• Connecting materials with living descendants or communities of origin
• Organizing workshops around significant but previously unavailable materials

Collaborators

Press

Associated Press | Dec. 7, 2025

Unseen photos of Rosa Parks return to Montgomery, Alabama, seven decades later, by Safiyah Riddle

Journal of Blacks in Higher Education | Jan. 20, 2026

Rare Photos of Rosa Parks Found in Stanford University’s Archives, by Staff

Stanford Report | Jan. 5, 2026

Rare photos of Rosa Parks discovered at Stanford, by Alex Kekauoha


About

MICHAEL DIMAGGIO | CO-FOUNDER

Before founding Proximity Partners, Michael served in senior leadership positions at two national non-profit where he built their advancement and partnership divisions from the ground up and secured more than $150 million in public and private funding. He shaped national strategy, expanded both organization’s influence through keynote platforms, and chaired their internal DEI committee, advancing equity goals set by the Board of Trustees.

Michael is deeply invested in proximity—geographic, social, and moral—as a lever for justice. He has helped grassroots leaders access national platforms and media coverage, brokered meaningful partnerships between local and national actors, and advised nonprofits across the rural South. A native Angeleno living in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Montgomery, Alabama, Michael continues to partner with communities to preserve history, unlock opportunity, and build coalitions rooted in dignity and inclusivity.

Contact: michael@proximitypartnership.com

CHIP BRANTLEY | CO-FOUNDER

Chip Brantley is a co-host, writer, and producer of the NPR podcast White Lies, which was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Audio Reporting and the 2023 recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Podcast.

The author of the book, The Perfect Fruit, his work has appeared in Slate, Gourmet, the Oxford American, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, among others. Chip was the creative producer of Whitman, Alabama, an experimental documentary that was a 2018 Emmy nominee in the New Approaches in Documentary category.

A senior instructor in journalism at the University of Alabama, Chip is a founder and board member of the Desert Island Supply Co., a nonprofit creative writing and arts center in Birmingham, Ala.

Contact: chip@proximitypartnership.com