photographs

As a self-described obsessive, one who readily admits she spends way too much time researching every little thing & scrap of paper for both its own history and its context, I naturally was intrigued by Louis P. Masur’s most recent book which delves into the history & context of just one photograph. Yes, an entire book dedicated to just one photograph.

Frankly, I was heady at the mere idea of such a thing. I wasn’t sure if I should be as delighted as I was — or simply green with envy that one man would have the luxury of time (and obviously the additional luxury of such committed focus) to one photograph — let alone convince a publisher of the merits of such work. But love of history won out and I grabbed the book to my chest.

The Soiling of Old Glory: The Story of a Photograph That Shocked America By Louis P, Masur

As I said, the book, The Soiling of Old Glory: The Story of a Photograph That Shocked America, focuses on just one photograph — but it’s not just any photograph.

The photograph, The Soiling of Old Glory, is, despite my previous ignorance to it, quite a well-known, controversial, and award-winning photo:

On April 5, 1976, at an anti-busing rally at City Hall Plaza, Stanley Forman, a Boston Herald-American photographer, took a picture that stands as an icon of racial hatred in America. A teenager has transformed the flag into a weapon directed at the body of a black man. It is the ultimate act of desecration, performed in the year of the bicentennial in the shadows of Boston’s Old State House. Titled The Soiling of Old Glory, the photograph appeared in newspapers around the country and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1977. It haunts us still.

If that paragraph seems to imply all there is to the story, I assure you it’s not.

Masur takes us through the incident. He interviews the key players (including the white teenager who “transformed the flag into a weapon,” Joseph Rakes; the victimized young black man, Theodore “Ted” Landsmark; and the photographer, Stanley J. Forman — none of whom have remained frozen in time like the photo). And Massur sets the context in terms of the socio-economic conditions, politics and history of Boston as well as the personal histories of the individuals involved. It is, as promised on the book jacket’s front flap, a “biography of a photograph.”

Beyond “all that history,” we are also given much more.

We are to consider photography itself. Is that moment in time, in this case an image captured in 1/250th of a second, The Truth? If the camera cannot lie (only the photographer — and in this case, the photo is neither doctored nor posed), does this “snapshot” give us all we need to see The Truth? In fact, how do we see or read photographs? In some ways, we view them as Art — and in the case of The Soiling Of Old Glory, there are many comparisons to famous artworks and iconic photographs to be made. Masur makes them.

The author gives us history & context, examples & comparisons, for these issues, to further, well, complicate the issues. It’s not that Masur himself is unclear; rather it is the issues themselves which are complicated. They are not easy things to consider — nor easily dismissed.

After reading this book, one can no longer passively view a photograph.

But still we are not done. For central to this photograph, to the controversy, is a symbol: The American Flag. Without the flag itself, we do not have the same visceral reaction to this photograph (Bicentennial or not). So Masur gives a concise history lesson regarding the flag, including the cult of the flag and the related controversial issues of patriotism, free speech, and flag desecration.

Each one of these contextual pieces would be fascinating reads; but combined as the context to just one photograph, it’s nearly mind-blowing.

If you love history, you’ll love this book and want to add it to your book collection. But other collectors will love this book too.

If you collect Black Americana, you’ll see there are (unfortunately) much more modern works connected to more recent events & racism to be searching for.

If you collect photographs, as I do, you’ll never look at them so simply again — nor should you. But don’t worry; reading The Soiling of Old Glory: The Story of a Photograph That Shocked America will not detract from your obsession. On the contrary, you will find more value in your photographs, old & new.

If you collect flags — or just display them for holidays such as The Fourth of July — you’ll find in Masur’s book validation of your pursuit and the questions you might be posing with your collection. (In fact, I now contemplate collecting them, at least in photographs, folk art & outsider art works, as well as in ephemera.)

The Soiling Of Old Glory may indeed be a remarkable photograph (and I take nothing away from it’s standing), but more remarkable to me is Masur’s book. Not just for ending my 45 years of ignorance to the photo (and therefore the forced busing issue in Boston and the related American history); not just for validating my own obsessive needs to research the snot out of everything (and that should not be underestimated!); but for telling a story of an object with it’s full context & in such interesting, page-turning precision.

Paper plays such an important role in the world of collecting. All types of paper objects are collected and for many different reasons. For example, a bank collector knows that his 1910 cast iron mechanical bank if in the original box, would double its price. Others search for a stack of trading stamps from an obscure retailer circa 1960. Books, magazines, posters, signs, paper labels, greeting cards, photographs, postcards, receipts, letters, advertising calenders, restaurant menus, playbills, maps, bus passes, sports and theater programs, blue prints, bar coasters, sheet music and newspapers are some of the types of collectible paper material I have dealt with in the antique business. If you check back through older posting here at Collectors’ Quest, you’ll see lots of references to ephemera and its importance to collectors, and you will find my own preference for old magazines.

We were promised a paperless world when the computer and Internet were introduced and while some paper items are going the way of the Edsel, others still remain. My local grocer has 187 magazine titles on display around the courtesy counter. Ninety-two have the same celebrity on the cover, the other 95 have 101 ways I can improve something about myself or my surroundings. So it looks safe for future collectors of that genre. Restaurant menus may be plastic coated paper, but that just means they will be cleaner when a collector displays them. Playbills are handed out at theaters and our local newspaper is still in paper form for now. Calendars look to be safe, books are plentiful, as are paper signs, posters and playing cards. Airline sickness bags are made of paper, (Yes, bunky, they are a collectible) and probably will be way into the future.

If I worry too much, it’s only because I’m concerned for the future ephemera collector. Will the printed newspapers die off completely? It’s already so thin I have to beg friends to save theirs so I have enough to wrap and ship collectibles to our buyers. Will electronic bill paying leave the future collector without a paper trail of receipts?

Today alone I received three emailed quotes on products I sell in my day job, that got sent out the same way they came in. Catalogs are showing up in electronic form, and take up no shelf space. Blue prints are no longer blue as CAD designing made the drafting table,T square and plastic templates obsolete. But who can argue with 3D designing. Record covers, if they can be referred to as such, are so small they make a very poor display. And what could you do, take 9 in a square to form a collage?

Today the lowly autograph of a long ago sports figure scrawled on the back of an envelope or bar napkin will fetch a very good price, but will that be true tomorrow when all these personalities “Sharpie” their names on clothing and unused sports gear, at “signings”, drawing in the masses.

When was the last time you wrote a letter, or for that matter can you remember sending a post card? With digital picture frames, how long before its to passe’ having the family portrait printed on paper and hung inside a wooden frame?

Now let me get back to the toy in its original box. I’ll only touch on this from my point of view. I suggest you need to see one of our other writers, Collin David, to really get into the subject of toy collecting. My prospective comes as a grandparent. Have you tried to get one of those new toy sets out of the box without a blow torch, wire cutters and sometimes a jackhammer? The parts are wired, taped and screwed onto the packaging. What future collector is going to find one of these toys in its original box? And if it’s a small toy it will be sealed in a plastic bag, or bubbled under cardboard that requires a straight razor to cut open.

So let’s all look twice before an old scrap of processed tree is put into the recycle bin and save a bit of yesterday’s history for future paper collectors.

I’ve mentioned before that I fell in love with & began collecting Marilyn Monroe during my early teen years. Back then, besides books, the only things I could really get my hands on were 8 x 10 glossies. (Remember, I’m old and video wasn’t even an idea then.) There were several stores at the mall which sold copies of classic film star photographs and they were pretty darn cheap, so I stocked up on 8 x10 photos Marilyn.

Marilyn Monroe With Stuffed Tiger Photo

From there it wasn’t a big jump to photos and postcards of other vintage glamour girls, pinups, starlets and Hollywood legends.

Colorized Vintage Lana Turner Photo

I used to frame them, but as I’ve now collected so many, I’ve put them in protective sleeves and store them in binders I can page through whenever the mood strikes me — like when you come over to visit.

Some of the photos and postcards are signed — but most of them are either of the stamped signature or autographs printed onto the photo varieties. Many of my postcards have been mailed. They not only have the postmark & canceled stamps on the photo images, ‘personal messages’ from the star (or most likely, her press agent or secretary), but also have printed information including star’s name &/or information on the studio, including how to order additional autographed photos. Some might complain that all this detracts from the images — hwever, I’m mostly thrilled because this information is often the only way I can identify the once hugely popular actress. For example, who readily recognizes the starlet version of Shirley Temple?

Vintage Shirley Temple Pinup Postcard

I’ve since graduated to purchasing the occasional honest-to-goodness autographed photos. I’ve managed to get a number of them personally when interviewing celebrities, like this personalized signed photo of the super fun, super babe, Julie Strain.

Signed Julie Strain Photograph

Naturally, the vintage Hollywood icon photos with signatures can get rather pricey (as can the stamped or printed versions, simply due to rarity), but I’m also a bit leery of buying photos signed by unscrupulous sellers with Sharpie pens while they eat off TV trays and watch reality television shows.

While most everyone offers a certificate of authenticity these bits of (however nicely) printed paper are rather meaningless. There’s no standard certification process — nor any certification police. And while a seller may promise on that-there certificate to refund your purchase price, it’s up to you to pay for an appraisal &/or autograph authentication to prove your dispute/disprove the seller’s claim. That may cost you more than the item itself — plus the egg on your face. (And, of course, getting the refund is entirely another matter.)

In general, I only trust those sellers/dealers that I know or that have excellent reputations, like I did with this signed photo of Sophia Loren in spectacular lingerie.

Signed Sophia Loren Photo

Some collectors only want “real” signatures on authentic vintage photographs (not modern prints or copies), claiming that these are the only collectible photos of any value. But me, I just ask myself, “How much do I love looking at thee?” If the price matches my love, then I pay for it and enjoy it.

After all, as Marilyn said, “Hollywood’s a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for kiss, and fifty cents for your soul.” No price was put on the photos; that’s up to me, my wallet, and my adoration.

Vintage Ford Service Station, Lenexa Garage, Courtesy Johnson County Museum

Meeting In The Middle, the 2008 annual conference for both the Mountain-Plains Museums Association & the Association of Midwest Museums, was held last week. One of the Wednesday sessions that I attended was Create Access To Your Collections — Digitizing Collaboratively, which was all about the process of creating JoCoHistory.net, a collaborative project of the Johnson County Museum, Johnson County Library, Johnson County Archives, and Olathe Public Library to provide greater access to historical materials related to Johnson County, Kansas.

Now, before you non-technical &/or non-Kansas folks let your eyes glaze over or begin to reach for that ‘back’ button on your browser, let me tell you this is one fascinating project for collectors.

1979 Halloween Party Photo, Courtesy of Johnson County Museum

And just plain fun for those of us who just love looking at old photos.

Sure it’s focused on one county in Kansas, but as far as online databases go, it’s so much more than that. With this easy to use site, even if you aren’t a collector of Kansas, you certainly can find images and information on rather any historical collection you have. Along with search options, there are easily understood categories (people, places, groups, etc.) & collections (by museum, society etc.), all cross referenced with a timeline.

Along with providing greater access to old photographs, valuable ephemera, & historical information (and preserving those fragile photos & paper), JoCoHistory.net makes connections that might otherwise have been missed.

Antique Photo Postcard, Children Riding Ostrich, Courtesy Johnson County Museum

In schools, for example, teachers are finding the resources to make the connections between the national or ‘big picture’ history lessons and the local stories, heroes and events — including finding places for field trips & tours.

And students can get help with with their homework! No, they won’t be given cheat-sheets or the answers, but they will be assisted in where & how to find the answers. Local biographies, something largely missed in school texts, standard history books and even on the Internet, are luring students into pursuing more individual research. Students of all ages are becoming interested in history! And JoCoHistory is quickly discovering that interest in the site isn’t only local — parents & kids from other locations around the US are contacting the site for help in making the connections to their own locations.

OK, call me a history nerd, but how thrilling is that?

But wait, there’s more! Like the Ginsu knives, JoCoHistory offers much more for collectors and amateur historians.

• It’s all easy to use, with the candy (images) right there for sweet instant gratification. That’s so important for me; when researching I often prefer to scan photos to see if a database really has what I am looking for.
• You can get prints of the photos &/or higher quality scans of the images to print yourself. With each listing you’ll get information on Owner, Ordering Information, Resource Identifier, & Photo Use and Limitations — complete with links for easy access.
• Research tools for further help.

Retro Smaks Drive In Sign, Photo Courtesy Johnson County Museum

Perhaps the coolest feature is the History Mystery section, where JoCoHistory features images they’d like help with. If you can identify something or someone in the image shown, you can easily send in your information. What’s more, this feature is active on all images on the site simply by clicking the link by Feedback. David LaCrone, Digital Content Manager for the Johnson Country Library, says they’ve received 522 comments since the site began two years ago, with tips coming from folks scattered across the globe.

Feedback and comments on items in the database are verified before any information in the official record is changed; if it cannot be substantiated, comments are saved and included as Public Comments only. Hey, these are museums, historical archives & other organizations dedicated to factual details — that’s why we trust them. But these comments are always interesting, varying from the completely informational to the sublime “This is not so-and-so; I know, because I am so-and-so” and the “How great to see family photos; ours were lost to Katrina.”

Vintage Fashion Show, Pember Co. Department Store, Courtesty Olathe Public Library

At the beginning the site had 15,000 images and now it has over 28,000. They’ve learned that the more images and information they upload to the site, the more popular the site gets — and that’s something they intend to exploit. Along with increasing the number of images uploaded, and the number of collaborative partners from other historical societies, museums and organizations (each with their own unique collection of images), JoCoHistory will also be adding other objects — artifacts of the 3D variety in photographic form — as well as audio files to the database. Too cool.

Many other organizations could should take note of all that JoCoHistory has done; it sure would make my life much easier. (When I spend hours at JoCoHistory, it’s because I’m delighted and interested, not frustrated.)

Note: The site is just two years old, yet they will be updating their site by early 2009, including (if it’s possible) an even more intuitive design and a blog. I saw a brief preview and was impressed. So bookmark the main page of JoCoHistory now, kids; the other pages linked to here could change and you won’t want to miss anything.

Eve Arnold is known for her celebrity photographs, and perhaps most known for her photos of Marilyn Monroe.  This is how I, as a woman with an obsession with Monroe, discovered Arnold.  After reading my last book on Monroe, I had decided to swear-off my obsession and stop buying more Monroe stuff — at least books.  But then I discovered Eve Arnold’s book of Monroe photographs…

Full of photos — nearly 100, including 48 previously unseen — yes; but it’s the quality, not the quantity.

Arnold’s photographs of Marilyn are unique.  Unusually benevolent, these intimate photos of Marilyn Monroe expose the icon’s personality rather than her flesh.  In these photos we see a person, not a sex object; a human, not any kind of object at all.  And while I could go on and on about them, the important thing to know here is that these photos are different for several key reasons.

One is the all important matter of timing — and developing.  The two met at a party and forged a wonderful friendship that would last a decade.  As Arnold says, “We were both at the beginning of our careers, and I believe that neither of us knew precisely what we were doing.”

At the risk of more bad-pun-making, I’ll say what allowed the friendship to develop was the chemistry between the two.  While many dismiss Marilyn’s intelligence, Eve didn’t.  Both women knew what effect being a woman had on the world around her, and as Eve says, “We could make use of it, or we could let it be.”

Arnold would later say, “I didn’t want to be a ‘woman photographer’. That would limit me. I wanted to be a photographer who was a woman, with all the world open to my camera.” (And more recently confirms this belief, saying in a BBC interview, “No, I am a photographer. And you don’t say, a man photographer. So it seems likely that I am a photographer.”) This certainly puts the the two women on decidedly different paths, at least in appearance; yet it would stop neither’s success.

Arnold was the first woman to be nominated for membership in Magnum in 1951, and became a full member in 1957.  In 1995 she was made fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and elected Master Photographer, the world’s most prestigious photographic honor, by New York’s International Center of Photography; and in 2003, she was awarded an honorary O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire) by the British Government.

Looking at her photographs, you can see why.

Through her photos of celebrities, we see more than famous people, more than a time capsule of “us” or “society”.  Even with such famous & familiar faces, we see something — someone — new.

If the mark of a really good novel is that you think of the characters long after the book ends, then photographs of people ought to do the same. Eve Arnold’s photos do that.  Even if you think you know the people in the portraits.

And when you don’t know the people in the photographs?  You long to…

In fact, if I have one complaint about Arnold’s works, it’s that I can’t find out enough.  I know that photographers believe that a photo is worth a thousand words, but often they do not seem to document the details which I long to know…  A perpetual problem for me, I know; but still, why can’t I find out more about Charlotte Stribling aka ‘Fabulous’?  Or Girl Holding Head, Insane Asylum, Haiti 1954?

The titles are stark, in such contrast to such compassionate, deep, rich images.  Perhaps this is by design, so that I, we, move past words and labels into what seeing and feeling.  But I still want to know more about Charlotte and Girl Holding Head.  For now, all I can do is stare at the photos and wonder.

Along with her famous celebrity protraits, there are a few others we can learn more about. Such as the Veiled woman, Muscat, Oman 1969.  She, and others, can (presumably) be seen in Arnold’s 1969 film about Dubai, Behind the Veil. This film is said, not only to capture “a traditional Muslim society just as it begins to become modernized, but also the antagonism between Islamic and Western societies that has been the stuff of news stories throughout the first years of the 21st century.”

I bet it’s amazing.

If there’s one thing I’ve read which seems to sum up the brilliance of Arnold’s photos, it’s this quote from the artist herself: “If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument.”

This is the gift of this talented photographer.  A gift no doubt noticed & appreciated by Monroe, allowing such a friendship, but by all who were before Arnold’s camera.  Indeed a gift she shares with all who see her photographs.

So now I’ll collect Eve Arnold works — likely in books, due to my modest means.  Not because she knew Marilyn; but because she knew how to take pictures of her.  And of everyone she photographed.

PS  Through June 14, the David Gallery exhibits All About Eve, the single largest collection of vintage and period Eve Arnold prints available for acquisition.  I wish I were close enough to see it.  If you go, I’m accepting souveniers.