Summary Information
State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Division of Archives and Manuscripts: Paul Vanderbilt's Subject Files 1951-1971
- State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Division of Archives and Manuscripts
Series 2489
3.8 cubic feet (10 archives boxes and 2 card boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Classified subject files, mainly 1954-1965, and other administrative materials of Paul Vanderbilt (1905-1992), the first curator of the Historical Society's Iconographic Collection, including correspondence, memoranda, reports and writings, reference material, product samples, photographic tests, notes, and reference materials pertaining to the organization of the section, its operation, and the cataloging, exhibit, and promotion of its collections. Prominent correspondents include Ansel Adams, Roy Stryker, George Talbot, and Franklin Wallick, as well as Historical Society administrators Leslie J. Fishel Jr., J.W. Jenkins, Clifford Lord, and Don McNeil. Numerous films and photographs created by Vanderbilt as head of Iconography are separately catalogued in the Visual Materials Section. English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-ser02489
Biography/History
Paul Vanderbilt was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1905. Both of his parents were teachers, and he was provided with an education that included Europe, public schools in Massachusetts, Amherst College, and Harvard University. In 1922 he studied at the Clarence White School of Photography. Graduation from Harvard came in 1927 with a degree in art history. Vanderbilt continued his studies in Europe in 1928 and 1929. During this time he also selected books for the Philadelphia Museum of Art while attending classes at London, Paris, and Lausanne. After his return to the United States Vanderbilt was librarian, editor of publications, and research assistant to the director at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
From 1941 to 1945 Vanderbilt was involved with two government projects. He served as a consultant for the U.S. Navy for the planning of the Navy Photographic Center from 1941 to 1942. In this position, he helped create controls for incoming still and motion picture photographs. From 1942 to 1944 he was a visual information specialist with the Office of War Information. During these years he helped plan the National Film Library for the Library of Congress. In 1944 Vanderbilt was named chief of the Photographic Section of the Library of Congress. In this position, Vanderbilt was involved in the reorganization of Roy Stryker's Farm Security Administration photo documentation project. Other titles Vanderbilt held at LC included chief and chair of the Fine Arts, Prints, and Photographs Divisions. During this period in his career he wrote Guide to the Special Collection of Prints and Photographs in the Library of Congress. (1955).
Vanderbilt came to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin in 1953 as the curator of the Iconographic Collection, a position that was created for him by Director Clifford Lord in order to consolidate administrative responsibility for the Society's photographs then housed in the Library, Archives, and Museum. Under Vanderbilt's guidance, this collection evolved into one of the major resources for historic photographs in North America, transforming the way in which historical photographs were accessed and used. His work for the Historical Society involved developing policies, cataloging, reference, and preservation. In
1960 Vanderbilt began a project of landscape photography for the Society, eventually creating more than 6000 negatives.
Vanderbilt retired from the Historical Society in 1972. After this he devoted himself to the creation of thematic panels which juxtaposed historic images with some of his landscape work. These panels ultimately became the basis for his posthumous book, Between the Landscape and Its Other (1993). Vanderbilt was 87 years old and in the final stages of terminal cancer when he took his own life in 1992. Today, Vanderbilt is viewed as a pioneer in the development of visual imagery as a cultural and historical resource. His own photographs were selected for inclusion in The Photographer and the American Landscape, published by the Museum of Modern Art in 1963.
Scope and Content Note
Series 2489 documents Paul Vanderbilt's administrative responsibilities as head of the Iconographic Section. This part of his professional life is also documented by Series 1829 (Iconography Correspondence, 1952-1982) and by several, separately catalogued oral history projects. The majority of the papers relating to Vanderbilt's earlier career, his post-SHSW career, and his personal life are available at the Archives of American Art except that the State Historical Society holds a small body of unprocessed personal papers accessioned as a manuscript collection. Numerous photographs, photo exhibits, and films produced by Vanderbilt as head of Iconography are available in the Visual Materials Archive.
While the overall content of Series 2489 is administrative, researchers will also find in it information that is helpful to understanding the creative side of Vanderbilt's personality and his view of visual imagery. Only a small quantity of material in Series 2489 relates directly to Vanderbilt's personal photography or the exhibition of his landscape work, although there are several files on the development and display of his thematic panels and pairings and an exhibit at the Chicago Institute of Art. A few files document Vanderbilt's relationships with friends and other professionals and his reputation as a nationally-recognized photographer. These include exchanges with
George Talbot of TransAction magazine, who succeeded Vanderbilt as head of Iconography; a file about Roy Stryker, director of the Farm Security Administration project, and the effort by Franklin Wallick of the United Automobile Workers to develop a similar project; and correspondence with Ansel Adams.
Vanderbilt's subject files are arranged as part of a complex numerical classification scheme that is similar to the classified file he established to enhance access to topical photographs. In this system, files were first arranged into related subject groups and then individual files within each of these groupings were assigned classification numbers up to five digits long. In Vanderbilt's scheme two digit numbers denote the most general subjects, while additional digits placed to the right of the original numbers indicate a successive refinement of the original subject concept. For example, File 6605 “Microfilming tests and procedures” is a subfile of File 66 “Microfilming.” Unfortunately, some files appear to have little in common with the files with which the system suggests they are hierarchically related. Thus, File 663 “Restoration of Photographs” appears to have little relation to its superior, File 66 “Microfilming”. This problem impedes access to the series based on subject hierarchies. Also complicating use is the fact that some files contained little information while others had been retired from use. (Vanderbilt sometimes used the series to manage original photo collections and other materials while he was working on them. All such misfiled original material has been removed from the files to its proper location in the general Visual Materials holdings.) A final problem for access is that some material was unfoldered or never assigned classification numbers. This material has been interfiled or filed alphabetically at the end of the series. To aid research use, an alphabetical index to Vanderbilt's file descriptions follows the container list as an appendix. Cardex cards which listed all active and inactive file numbers are filed in Box 1.
The most important material in the series relates to administration of the newly-created photograph section; the determination of general policy and procedures; and the care, arrangement, description, and promotion of the collections. In files 172 and 175 there are incoming and outgoing memoranda to and from Society administrators such as Leslie J. Fishel Jr., J.W. Jenkins, Clifford Lord, and Don McNeil, and in files 19,
194, and 72 there are annual reports, field reports, and other special reports. While the administrative memoranda are incomplete for Vanderbilt's entire tenure as head of the section, the coverage is fortunately best for the early years of Vanderbilt's work when most policy was being developed. In addition to purely administrative material, this section includes book reviews, columns, ideas for books and publications, and other short writings by Vanderbilt.
A substantial group of material relates to the operation of the Iconographic Section and to Vanderbilt's special projects and exhibits. In this category there is material as diverse as correspondence regarding circulating exhibits, film screenings, and loans; background research and captions for exhibits; and cut lists and notes for SHSW promotional films.
A third type of record has been retained primarily for its evidence of the section's operations. Here one will find microfilm test strips, samples of paper and folder stock, a detailed inventory of photographic equipment, correspondence regarding new equipment and techniques, and cataloging manuals
Finally, Vanderbilt classified a large quantity of secondary reference material such as equipment catalogs, newspaper clippings, lists of Wisconsin material in other repositories, and information on topics that was simply interesting to him such as jokes or other uses of the name Iconography. The majority of the secondary information has been separated from the subject files and discarded.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Processed by Mark Dieter (archives intern, 1997) and Carolyn J. Mattern.
Contents List
Series 2489
Box
1
Folder
1
|
Cardex cards
|
|
Box
1
Folder
2-17
|
11-145
|
|
Box
2
Folder
1-16
|
148-172
|
|
Box
3
Folder
1-18
|
172 (continued) - 3568
|
|
Box
4
Folder
1-41
|
36-485
|
|
Box
5
Folder
1-25
|
4852-553
|
|
Box
6
Folder
1-28
|
553 (continued) - 6578
|
|
Box
7
Folder
1-33
|
658-765
|
|
Box
8
Folder
1-21
|
766-88
|
|
|
Unclassified material
|
|
Box
8
Folder
22
|
Civil War panoramas
|
|
Box
8
Folder
23
|
Color photography in field work
|
|
Box
8
Folder
24
|
Color portraits
|
|
Box
8
Folder
25
|
Film (early Vanderbilt?)
|
|
Box
8
Folder
26
|
General correspondence
|
|
Box
9
Folder
1
|
Graphic History Society
|
|
Box
9
Folder
2
|
Hinged panel design
|
|
Box
9
Folder
3
|
Little book layout, Unidentified
|
|
Box
9
Folder
4
|
Morgan, Fred, Chippewa (Ojibwe) dancing film
|
|
Box
9
Folder
5
|
Miscellaneous cut lists, captions and other film production materials,
|
|
Box
9
Folder
6
|
Museum promotion
|
|
Box
9
Folder
7
|
Oversize materials filming test
|
|
Box
9
Folder
8
|
Picture book project
|
|
Box
9
Folder
9
|
Remington, George
|
|
Box
9
Folder
10
|
SHSW collections, General
|
|
Box
9
Folder
11
|
Sites promotion and film
|
|
Box
9
Folder
12
|
Unidentified material
|
|
Box
9
Folder
13
|
Visual Instruction Bureau
|
|
|
Misfiled material
|
|
Box
12
Folder
1-11
|
1591-6548
|
|
Box
12
Folder
12
|
Peck Cabin
|
|
|
Card box
|
|
Box
10
Folder
1
|
53 Wisconsin lots at LC
|
|
Box
10
Folder
2
|
6572 Inventory of photographic equipment
|
|
Box
10
Folder
3
|
A Child's World Exhibit
|
|
Box
11
|
Unidentified cards and notes
|
|
Appendix: Topical Index
File Description
|
File Number
|
Box/Folder
|
AASLH Broadcast Museum Radio/TV contests |
553 |
Box 5/22-23 and 6/1 |
AASLH technical leaflets |
669 |
7/20 |
Acquisitions |
15 |
2/2 |
Adams, Ansel |
492 |
12/7 |
Adams railroad collection, Notes |
46451 |
4/35 |
Administrative memos, Outgoing |
172 |
3/1 |
Administrative memos, Incoming |
172 |
2/16 |
Administrative memos, Outgoing |
175 |
3/2 |
Aitken Brothers, 1964 |
8265 |
8/11 |
Aperture incidence indexing systems |
67 |
7/21 |
Architecture in Wisconsin |
555 |
6/2 |
Archival permanence, Photographs |
6689 |
7/19 |
Archive of minor architecture |
1617 |
2/9 |
Art programs, Promotion |
159 |
2/6 |
Bailey's Dam |
463 |
4/32 |
Behavioral research |
542 |
5/18 |
Bennett show, 1965 |
82615 |
8/10 |
Book reviews |
429 |
4/13 |
Boy with leaking boot |
545 |
5/19 |
Brigham family genealogy |
4644 |
4/34 |
Brown, John |
4483 |
4/28 |
Bruno Collection Exhibition |
8258 |
8/8 |
Budget request notes |
115 |
1/3 |
Canada, International Expo, 1967 |
447 |
4/27 |
Captioning procedures & samples |
6826 |
7/25 |
Card catalog, SHSW |
682 |
7/24 |
Chanticleer Press book |
4426 |
4/21 |
Chemicals and paper |
6583 |
7/3 |
Child's World exhibit |
None |
10/3 |
Circulating exhibitions-Catalogs |
325 |
3/12 |
Circulating panels, Closed bookings |
845 |
8/16 |
Circulating panels, Bookings |
145 |
1/16 |
Circulating panels |
148 |
2/1 |
City of Gold narration text |
46475 |
4/36 |
Civil War films, Notes |
342 |
3/14 |
Collecting policy reports |
71 |
7/27 |
Collections in other divisions which include graphics |
144 |
1/15 |
Color copying |
666 |
7/18 |
Color photography in chronological field work |
None |
8/23 |
Color portraits |
None |
8/24 |
Color printing |
6585 |
7/6 |
Comic strips, cartoons |
584 |
6/9 |
Computations for a Viewfinder-MS |
4424 |
4/19 |
Conditions governing special collections |
305 |
3/10 |
Copying equipment |
6582 |
7/2 |
Crane, James, Publications, cartoons |
563 |
6/4 |
Damaged nitrate negatives to have filtered positives and new negatives made |
4646 |
12/6 |
Darkroom equipment |
65832 |
7/4 |
Description of individual collections, Drafts |
759 |
7/35 |
Desiderata, Picture books |
153 |
2/3 |
Dexter collection (Stereographs-Lists |
317 |
3/11 |
Diary excerpts, Services |
1916 |
3/8 |
Dickenson exhibit, 1962 |
8267 |
8/12 |
Diemer collection, Dating |
361 |
4/2 |
Directory of collections in Wisconsin |
532 |
5/14 |
Educational activities |
715 |
7/28 |
Enlarging exposure system |
654 |
6/18 |
Examples of negative deterioration |
663 |
12/10 |
Executive Residence project |
4445 |
4/23 |
Exhibit, Hine |
141 |
1/11 |
Exhibition catalogs |
372 |
4/4 |
Exhibitions, 1943-1946 |
879 |
8/20 |
Farm Security Administration, Wisconsin photos microfilm checklist |
756 |
7/33 |
Filing equipment-Catalogs |
61 |
6/14 |
Film preservation and cleaning |
65877 |
7/8 |
Film programs, Past correspondence |
1426 |
1/13 |
Film programs, Past programs |
14262 |
1/14 |
Film-Early PV |
None |
8/25 |
Films, Future productions |
4879 |
5/4 |
Filmstrips |
514 |
5/9 |
Fishel portrait experiments |
493 |
12/8 |
Fishel portraits |
493 |
5/6 |
Flood of 1965 film |
4861 |
5/1-2 |
Gaddis Drawing Film |
486 |
4/43 |
Gallery slide shows |
546 |
5/20 |
General Correspondence |
None |
8/26 |
Graphic History Society |
None |
9/1 |
Hinged panels |
None |
9/2 |
Hinged panels, Explanatory text |
48 |
4/39 |
Iconographic collections other than SHSW |
53 |
5/13 |
Iconographic photo lots at the Library of Congress |
53 |
10/1 |
Iconography, Various applications, samples |
54 |
5/17 |
Index of American Design |
587 |
6/11 |
Indexing technique, Iconography of Wisconsin |
671 |
7/22 |
Insurance |
135 |
1/9 |
Intellectual dynamics, Proposed publication |
44 |
4/13 |
Interviews with job applicants |
1782 |
3/4 |
IOUs outstanding for material sold for film fund |
1625 |
2/12 |
Jaquish project-Photo rental collection |
5724 |
6/6 |
Joke file project |
582 |
6/8 |
La Follette collection portraits |
7562 |
7/34 |
La Follette photo release |
764 |
7/37 |
Lamination |
6632 |
7/13 |
Lantern Slides, Lists |
59 |
6/13 |
Last of the Snow |
4751 |
12/3-3A |
Leather bookbindings, Preservation |
665 |
7/17 |
Library film |
4882 |
5/5 |
Light meters |
658 |
7/1 |
Lincoln impersonators |
564 |
12/9 |
Lincoln exhibition, NY fair, 1964 |
4287 |
4/12 |
Literary image vs. Photo image - Notes |
426 |
4/11 |
Little Gallery displays |
878 |
8/19 |
Loans, Active |
166 |
2/15 |
Loans on display, Labels |
1642 |
2/13 |
Log Cabin Showcase Film |
4853 |
4/42 |
Macro-Micro exhibit |
4425 |
4/20,31 |
Martin RR collection, Notes |
4636 |
4/33 |
Mass communications history center |
527 |
5/12 |
Medical museum show - Medical History |
8269 |
8/15 |
Medical Museum films |
485 |
4/40 |
Microfilming |
66 |
7/9 |
Microfilming tests and procedure |
6605 |
7/10 |
Miles film, Indians building a canoe |
4873 |
5/3 |
Miscellaneous film production lists, exhibit captions, etc. |
None |
9/5 |
Modern painting program |
1592 |
2/7 |
Morgan, Fred, Chippewa (Ojibwe) dancing film |
None |
9/4 |
Motion picture equipment, Original inventory, Everest gift |
6571 |
6/23 |
Motion picture cameras, lenses, accessories |
6577 |
6/27 |
Motion picture cataloging |
68 |
7/23 |
Motion picture program, Public showings |
74 |
7/31 |
Motion pictures, Production, organizations, etc |
34 |
3/13 |
Motion pictures, Wisconsin |
589 |
6/12 |
Motion pictures |
69 |
7/26 |
Mounting |
65834 |
7/5 |
Movie showings, Programs |
142 |
1/12 |
Museum promotion |
None |
9/6 |
Neenah-Menasha project |
445 |
4/25 |
New quarters-Construction and equipment |
125 |
1/6 |
News photos and relations with sources |
55 |
5/21 |
Newspaper column copying camera, Design |
65707 |
6/21 |
Notes, specifications on supplies |
62 |
6/15 |
Okee painting |
4465 |
4/26 |
Operations, notes, etc. |
727 |
7/30 |
Organization matters |
81 |
8/7 |
Organization of the collections |
122 |
1/5 |
Organization of the collections, pre-1954 |
88 |
8/21 |
Oversize materials test |
None |
9/7 |
Painting, historical, locally owned |
5704 |
6/5 |
Painting restoration |
664 |
7/14 |
Paintings, Cleaning |
6644 |
7/15 |
Paintings, Draft advice on evaluation |
6645 |
7/16 |
Paintings hanging in SHSW |
161 |
2/8 |
Panoramic color camera experiments |
452 |
4/29 |
Paper stock for folders, envelopes, mounting, etc |
65 |
6/17 |
Peck cabin |
None |
12/12 |
Personal (PV) |
393 |
4/6 |
Personnel matters |
178 |
3/3 |
Photo dealers |
6573 |
6/25 |
Photo equipment, card inventory |
6572 |
6/24 |
Photo equipment inventory |
6572 |
10/2 |
Photo Equipment-Exchange and Purchase |
133 |
1/8 |
Photo program, Promotion |
156 |
2/4 |
Photo testing data |
6548 |
12/11 |
Photo testing data |
6548 |
6/19 |
Photo-technical matters |
655 |
6/20 |
Photograph America project |
41 |
4/8 |
Photographers, SHSW |
157 |
2/5 |
Photographers, Biographical data, etc. |
35 |
3/15 |
Photographers, Wisconsin-contemporary |
351 |
3/16 |
Photographic equipment |
657 |
6/22 |
Photography, Esthetics |
363 |
4/3 |
Photography, Teaching |
422 |
4/9 |
Photography, History and criticism |
352 |
3/17 |
Picture book project |
None |
9/8 |
Picture sources |
534 |
5/15 |
Portage project |
4446 |
4/24 |
Postcards |
585 |
6/10 |
Printers of reproductions, foreign |
7691 |
8/3 |
Prize for visual history productions |
425 |
4/10 |
Procedures |
12 |
1/4 |
Procurement |
13 |
1/7 |
Procurement matters (Requisitions, memos, etc. |
87 |
8/17 |
Projectors, still & motion picture |
6578 |
6/28 |
Public relations, Proposals, ideas |
77 |
8/4 |
Publication and use of SHSW pictures |
76 |
7/36 |
Quotation for walls |
138 |
1/10 |
Releases for the use of photographs |
875 |
8/18 |
Remington, George |
None |
9/9 |
Reports |
72 |
7/29 |
Reports, Field |
194 |
3/9 |
Reports, Periodic, Statistics |
19 |
3/7 |
Reports, writings, SHSW (PV) |
18 |
3/5 |
Resources, lists |
75 |
7/32 |
Restoration of photographs, deterioration |
663 |
7/12 |
Routines, regulations, etc., of other collections |
535 |
5/16 |
Selected pictures-Notes |
3933 |
12/2 |
Services, catalogs, UW Extension price lists for photo lab |
64 |
6/16 |
SHSW calendar |
766 |
8/1 |
SHSW collection miscellany |
None |
9/10 |
SHSW motion pictures, Circulation and showings |
765 |
7/38 |
SHSW staff, personnel |
79 |
8/6 |
Simplot, Alexander |
3568 |
3/18 |
Sites promotion and films-general |
None |
9/11 |
Sound |
65874 |
7/7 |
Speakers' Bureau |
773 |
8/5 |
Speech, Buffalo, draft, 1962 |
4383 |
4/17 |
Speech, Toledo outline, 1961 |
4382 |
4/16 |
Speech, Waterdown rotary, 1963 |
4381 |
4/14 |
Speech-Wisconsin Society for Internal Medicine-1965 |
43812 |
4/15 |
St. Lawrence Seaway |
5214 |
5/11 |
Still cameras, lenses, accessories |
6576 |
6/26 |
Stoughton paintings, Turner matter |
1655 |
2/14 |
Straubel Collection, Text notes from Dorothy Wittig |
4634 |
12/5 |
Stryker, Roy |
495 |
5/8 |
Systems Management Magazine |
662 |
7/11 |
Tapestries Exhibition, Madison Art Association |
8261 |
8/9 |
Then and Now series (News photos) |
36 |
4/1 |
Trans-Action |
494 |
5/7 |
Turow prooofsheets-Future exhibitions |
4633 |
12/4 |
Unidentified miscellany |
None |
9/12 |
Unidentified production notes |
None |
11/1 |
Unidentified bibliography |
None |
11/2 |
Unidentified “little book” layout |
None |
9/3 |
University of Wisconsin |
388 |
4/5 |
Unwanted material, disposal |
1618 |
2/10 |
Urban renewal exhibition |
444 |
4/22 |
Van Schaick-Life story |
4677 |
4/38 |
Van Schaick-Monroe-Ellis collection, |
4675 |
4/37 |
Vanderbilt's Chicago Art Institute exhibit, 1965 |
82681 |
8/14 |
Vanderbilt's own photograph exhibits |
8268 |
8/13 |
Visual Instruction Bureau (UW) |
None |
9/13 |
Wade House Film |
4852 |
4/41 |
Wisconsin Magazine of History picture inserts or features |
769 |
8/2 |
Wisconsin Arts Foundation and Council |
573 |
6/7 |
Wisconsin as seen by artists |
1591 |
12/1 |
Wisconsin History-Answers to queries |
395 |
4/7 |
Wood engravings in magazines, Notes for index |
453 |
4/30 |
Work sheets |
11 |
1/2 |
Works of art, Disposal |
162 |
2/11 |
Writings, future (Notes) |
182 |
3/6 |
|