Collection documents the National Photographic Society, an amateur camera club in Washington, D.C.
Scope and Contents:
The Executive Records, 1944-1978, consist of copies and drafts of the constitution, by-laws, correspondence, and the Board of Trustee Meeting Minutes. The Treasurer Records, 1956-1973, include bank account information that deals with authorization to open an organizational bank account, correspondence about monies collected and expenses incurred and the treasurer's annual reports that document receipts, disbursements, and special activities. The Membership Records, 1945-1984, contain directories (with mailing addresses and telephone numbers), officer information detailing which members served as trustees and/or on what committee. The club had several committees—slide, projector, portrait, special activities, publicity, finance, reception, dinner, membership, salon, audit, print, nominating, program, library and by-laws. The membership applications were maintained on 3" x 5 and 5" x 8" index cards. The annual awards information contains certificates awarded to Barbara Schroeder for a variety of honors, but the majority of documentation deals primarily with annual awards given for color slides. The Henry B. Shaw Memorial Trophy was a specific award and honor that was presented to the NPS member who made the greatest contribution to the well being of NPS. The award was named for Henry B. Shaw, former president of NPS.
The club published a monthly bulletin titled The Finder, 1942-1986, which was distributed to club members and photographic dealers. The Finder was a one-page newsletter from 1942 to April 1945, but in May of 1945 enlarged to four pages, in some instances with inserts. The Photographs and Negatives, 1959-1960, provide documentation of the club's annual banquet and presentation of awards in 1959 and a holiday outing to Petersburg, West Virginia. The photographs and negatives are approximately 4" x 5". The Salons, 1944-1959, includes schedules and other printed materials about salons that club members participated in or attended in the Washington, D.C. area. Camera Clubs, 1949-1967, documents the Greater Washington Council of Camera Clubs, an organization with which NPS was affiliated, and the Metropolitan Camera Club Council, Inc. of New York, New York. The newspaper clippings, 1948-1955, contain information on two columns, "Camera Angles," a weekly written by Alexander J. Wedderburn, Curator of Photography at the Smithsonian Institution and the "Monthly Print Clinic" featuring a photograph with narrative description.
Includes documents concerning the National Photographic Society's affiliations with the Greater Washington Council of Camera Clubs and the Photographic Society of America.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series
Series 1: Executive Records
Series 2: Treasurer Records
Series 3: Membership Records
Series 4: The Finder Newsletter
Series 5: Photographs and Negatives
Series 6: Salons
Series 7: Camera Clubs
Series 8: Newspaper Clippings
Biographical / Historical:
The Revenue Camera Club was organized in Washington, D.C. on March 14, 1938. It changed its name to The National Photographic Society (NPS) on April 1, 1943. It became affiliated with the Greater Washington Council of Camera Clubs and the Photographic Society of America. The NPS was incorporated in 1944 with a constitution and by-laws as a "non-profit organization under the provisions of Chapter 5 of the Code of the District of Columbia for the promotion of art and science of photography in all its various branches, through individual memberships, associated camera clubs and other photographic organizations, research and the dissemination of photographic knowledge and the promotion of photographic salons and exhibitions." The management of the society was vested in a board of trustees that was made up of nine members. The club held meetings in each other's homes, church basements or at the Mt. Pleasant or Georgia Avenue libraries where they showed member's prints and eventually held meetings at the Arts Club of Washington. The club dissolved in 1986.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Ms. Barbara Schroeder, February 12, 1999.
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.
Topic:
Clubs -- Photography -- 1940-1990 -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Exhibitions -- 1940-1990 -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Camera clubs -- 1940-1990 -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Genre/Form:
Correspondence -- 1940-2000
Photographs -- Black-and-white negatives -- Acetate film -- 1900-2000
Newsletters -- 20th century
Clippings -- 1940-1990 -- Washington (D.C.)
Minutes
Citation:
National Photographic Society Records, 1942-1986, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Approximately 86,000 photographic negatives (Series 1) and twenty-three drawers of file cards (Series 2) comprise the collection. Most of the pictures are studio portraits.
Series 1: Photonegatives
The majority of the negatives are glass plates, 5 x 7 inches. Approximately 10% of the total number of images are on film, also 5 x 7 inches, and all the film material which has been inspected thus far is on safety base: rapid deterioration of some of the film indicates that it is unstable cellulose acetate or diacetate. Nearly all of the negatives are portraits. Many of the female subjects ear furs or expensive gowns and dresses, and most of the men seem well-dressed. The majority of the portraits inspected have been heavily retouched with pencil, as apparently was Hill's custom, and the standard procedure followed by most commercial portrait studios. There are some large portraits, especially wedding photographs, which are in extremely poor condition due to the acetate deformation and deterioration.
Several hundred 8"x 10" glass negatives are not studio portraits. Many are informal outdoor portraits, landscapes and scenic views. Some seem to depict vacation outings and camping trips.
These photographs (approximately 86,000, according to the inventory conducted in the early 1980s) are currently stored off-site (building 18, Silver Hill Facility), and are not yet accessible due to the fact that parts of the collection are contaminated with asbestos insulation fibers; after preliminary cleaning, asbestos levels remaining were still considered hazardous. The collection must be included within the over-all Silver Hill asbestos abatement program. However, a small representative sample of glass and film negatives (1 box) has been cleaned and shelved in the Archives Center.
Series 2: Card Files
The collection is accompanied by twenty-three drawers of cards which form a partial working catalog. These cards are business records, recording the names of subjects and dates of sittings, along with prices charged, and the photographer or studio's catalog number. These numbers are on the negative jackets and match the card numbers. The cataloguing system incorporates at least in part a chronological arrangement which parallels the numerical sequence.
Celebrity subjects in the collection include Eleanor Roosevelt, Hedda Hopper, Fred Astaire, Ziegfield girls such as Billie Burke, and other public and entertainment figures. However, the celebrity portraits represent only a small percentage of the photographs. Indeed, an extensive list of prominent subjects supposedly to be found in the collection was supplied by Ray Martin before the acquisition, but most of these names have not appeared in either the card files or the collection itself, to the limited extent that the material could be inspected during inventory. Of course, there are chronological gaps in the cards.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into two series.
Series 1: Photonegatives
Series 2: Card Files
Card files arranged alphabetically by client name; each file devoted to a single year, half-year, or, in one instance, consecutive series of years. Photonegatives arranged numerically within drawers.
Biographical / Historical:
Ira Lawrence Hill opened a photographic studio in New York City about 1905, and died in 1938 or 1939. His birthdate has not yet been located. Hill was considered the "Cecil Beaton of his time" in New York, for he photographed the wealthy and socially prominent in his studio, but also received requests from all over the country to document society events "on location". He photographed many film and theatrical celebrities, portraits with helping to launch her career. She wrote: "Aside from his own enthusiasm, the above [referring to the Hill photograph] was the only evidence which C. B. Cochran submitted to Sir Gerald du Maurier when suggesting I be imported for a role in 'The Dancers' in London. Since my first transatlantic flight marked the turning point in my career, my personal thanks go to photographer Ira Hill who posed and reproduced me. I've faced many a camera since, both still and moving, but not one of their images served me so well as Ira's. Photographers can flatter you and they can foul you up. When submitting to news cameramen I often came out looking like the second witch in 'Macbeth.'"
Ray Martin, donor of the collection to the Museum, noted that her personally photographed the wedding of Sen. Claiborne Pell while working for Hill. Hill eventually married five debutantes in succession, according to Martin. His work frequently was published in Vanity Fair, Town and Country and other magazines, and he did his best work from 1920 on.
The Hill studio was located at 677 Fifth Avenue, near 53rd Street, according to a letter from 1946 on "Ira L. Hill's Studio" stationary. It is not known whether the studio was always in that location.
Ray Martin worked for Hill from 1936 to 1938. After Hill's death Martin purchased the studio and operated it until about 1960. Photographs in the collection which are dated after 1939 presumably were made by Mr. Martin or under his supervision. The early Hill and Martin photographs were placed in storage for several years after Martin closed the studio, and he subsequently donated them to the Division of Photographic History of the Museum of History and Technology in the 1960s. The Division finally accessioned the collection in 1981 (accession number 1981.0463).
Although some sources give Hill's date of death as 1938, an article in the New York Times, November 21, 1939, describes the arrest of "Society Photographer" Ira L. Hill after a fight at the home of his ex-wife.
Related Materials:
Materials at Other Organizations
National Portrait Gallery has a portrait of Margaret Sanger by Ira Hill.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Ray Martin, 1970.
Restrictions:
The majority of the collection is inaccessible and is stored off-site. Special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
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.
National Press Photographers Association Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Photographic History Search this
Extent:
28 Sound tape reels (1/4"audio tapes, open reel)
0.66 Cubic feet (2 boxes )
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sound tape reels
Interviews
Audiotapes
Oral history
Place:
Iwo Jima (Japan)
Date:
1957-1968
Scope and Contents:
Includes conversations with significant photographers and their experiences documenting historic events. Some of the material is associated with John Faber's book, "Great Moments in News Photography" (New York: T. Nelson, 1960). Includes Faber's interview with photographer Joe Rosenthal about his famed Iwo Jima photograph.
Arrangement:
1 series.
Unarranged.
Biographical / Historical:
National Press Photographers Association Oral Histories
Provenance:
Photographic History Collection, NMAH.,Transfer.,1997/10/08.,1981.0483.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research and use on site. Reference copies are not available.
Rights:
CCollection 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.
Restricted for 15 years, until Jan-01-2036. Records may contain personally identifiable information (PII) that is permanently restricted; Transferring office; 09/16/2021 memorandum, Toda to File; Contact reference staff for details
