Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr. took the first human-captured, color still photographs of the Earth during his three-orbit mission on February 20, 1962, with an Ansco Autoset model camera. This collection consists of a packet of four 35mm color slides produced from color photographs taken by Glenn during his space flight, which Ansco included with each purchase of its Ansco Autoset 35mm camera as an advertising promotion.
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of a packet of four Anscochrome 35 mm color slides (transparencies) produced from color photographs taken by astronaut John Glenn during his space flight, which Ansco included with each purchase of its Ansco Autoset 35 mm camera as an advertising promotion. The collection also includes the original slide envelope with a description of each photograph.
1. View of the Atlas Mountains in Sahara Desert. Coast of Morocco and Atlantic Ocean in foreground.
2. One of the three sunsets Col. Glenn saw.
3. Clouds over the Pacific Ocean.
4. East coast of Florida, Atlantic Ocean in foreground, Gulf of Mexico in center background.
Arrangement:
Slides are presented in original order. Digital images show fronts and backs of slides in reflected light, a view of the slides in transmitted light, and front and back of the original envelope containing the slides.
Biographical / Historical:
Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr. took the first human-captured, color still photographs of the Earth during his three-orbit mission on February 20, 1962, with an Ansco Autoset camera. The fully automatic Ansco Autoset model was manufactured for Ansco by the Japanese camera company Minolta, being essentially the same design as the Minolta Hi-Matic. For ease of use by Glenn, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) technicians attached a pistol grip handle and trigger to this commercial 35 mm camera, as well as a large viewfinder on top as Glenn, wearing a spacesuit helmet, could not get his eye close to a built-in viewfinder.
The Ansco brand name dates from the merger in 1901 of two American photography firms, E. & H. T. Anthony & Co. and Scovill Manufacturing. In 1907, the company now known as the Anthony & Scovill Co., producers of photographic films, papers, and cameras, officially changed their name to Ansco. In 1928, Ansco (based in Binghamton, New York) merged with the German photographic company Agfa to form the Agfa-Ansco Corporation which soon came under the control of the German chemical conglomerate IG Farben; the following year Agfa-Ansco's holding company name was changed to American IG Chemical Corporation, although their products retained the Agfa-Ansco brand name. In 1939, American IG was merged with General Aniline to form General Aniline & Film (GAF) with Agfa-Ansco becoming a subsidiary of GAF. Agfa-Ansco's German connections became an issue with the entrance of the United States into World War II, and in 1941 the US government seized GAF's American interests (including Agfa-Ansco) as enemy property. In 1944, "Agfa" was dropped from the name to become the Ansco Division of GAF. The US government continued to run the company for the next twenty years, with GAF not becoming a public firm until 1965. By the late 1970s the Ansco company had ceased the manufacture of film and was effectively dead; in 1978 GAF sold the rights to the Ansco trademark name to a Hong Kong firm which produced the last Ansco brand cameras in the early 1990s.
Related Materials:
The modified Ansco Autoset camera used by astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr. on the Mercury Friendship 7 flight is in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum collection: Camera, 35mm, Glenn, Friendship 7, A19670198000.
Provenance:
Bill Jonscher, Gift, 2019, NASM.2019.0047
Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Volkmar Kurt Wentzel, 2002 October 18-2003 January 24. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Photographers -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews Search this
Interview with Volkmar Kurt Wentzel by Anne Louise Bayly Berman for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, at Wentzel's home in Washington, DC on October 18 and 24, 2002; November 12, 2002; and January 24, 2003.
Wentzel discusses his childhood in Dresden, Germany, and the devastation during bombing of the city in World War II. He recalls a few stories about his fascination with dirigibles, beginning in childhood through his experience taking his first news photograph capturing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt meeting with Germans who traveled in the Hindenburg to unsuccessfully negotiate for helium in the 1930s. Wentzel discusses how his family endured the devastation of Germany toward the end of the World War I, and he recalls his father, Fritz Wentzel, working as a photochemist in Germany, and setting up photo paper factories in the former Czechoslovakia and Spain. Wentzel talks about how his father travelled to the Balkans to take photographs for his hobby before family life, and how he was a contemporary of Alfred Stieglitz, as they both studied under Hermann Vogel in Berlin. Wentzel speaks about how his family immigrated to Binghamton, NY in 1926 for his father's work with the Ansco Company (which later became Agfa-Ansco). Wentzel recalls how his father's home darkroom was his first influence on his photographic career. He talks about his mother passing away of pneumonia at an early age and the effects it had on his family. Wentzel recalls his ambition to travel to South America after graduating Binghamton High School with a friend, but once he arrived in Washington, DC, he ended his journey there. He talks about meeting architects Arved Kundzin and Eric Menke, who lead him to an artist retreat in Aurora, West Virginia. Wentzel discusses how he started making photographs in West Virginia, and a few of the pictures he made into photographs were purchased by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt on a road trip through the area. Wentzel talks about returning to Washington, DC and working in the darkroom for the portrait studio, Underwood & Underwood. He speaks about documenting Washington at night with his hand-me-down Speed Graphic camera. Wentzel explains that a colleague suggested that he send the photographs to the Royal Photographic Society, and walking into the offices of National Geographic to see their darkroom. He discusses applying for and landing a job in the darkroom of the offices of National Geographic. Wentzel talks about founder Gilbert Grosvenor as a pioneer of printing color photography. He describes National Geographic assignments in Kentucky and West Virginia, and talks about the impact of digital photography on the medium. Wentzel describes his air force service in World War II with the First Photo Squadron, where he helped take photographs to create aerial maps, and talks about ending his service in Okinawa and seeing the destruction of Nagasaki. Wentzel discusses returning to National Geographic after from his military service, and then getting assigned to document India. He speaks vividly of his travels in India, about building a traveling darkroom from a junkyard ambulance. He describes meeting Pandit Nehru, and his travels through Bombay, Jammu, Srinagar, Kashmir, Ladakh, Zoji La pass, Delhi, and Jaipur. He also speaks about his time documenting Africa, including the Weeks Expedition to Central Africa in 1952. He talks of his travels in Namibia, the Etosha Pan, Angola, the Congo, and the Cameroons. Lely Constantinople, Wentzel's studio assistant, also participates in the interview.
Biographical / Historical:
Volkmar Wentzel (1915-2006) was a writer and photographer from Washington, D.C.
General:
Originally recorded on 6 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 36 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire audio recording is restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Photographers -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Series Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Series Citation:
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Photography, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Series Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Series Citation:
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Photography, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
December 1913, February, July 1915, December 1915, October, November 1916
Series Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Series Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Series Citation:
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Photography, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
The collection consists of historical and business records for ANSCO, a company now owned by GAF (General Aniline and Film Corporation).
Content Description:
Collection includes business correspondence, some of it regarding a collection of Matthew B. Brady photographs; photographs, mostly of the company's products, biographical information on Edward A. Anthony, who started Anthony & Scovill, which merged with AGFA in 1928; multiple written accounts of the history of the company; trade literature; catalogs; price lists; company newsletters; scholarly journals; legal documents; and clippings. There is a small number of papers relating to Edward A. Anthony's first company, Anthony and Co., dating back to 1877.
Provenance:
Collection donated to the Photographic History Collections of the National Museum of American History, by GAF. Transferred to the Archives Center in 2019.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
