Mining the Nation’s Business

In March, 2004 the United States Chamber of Commerce sent an “addition” to their records already housed at the Hagley Museum and Library.  It turned out to be over 25,000 photographs from the files of “Nation’s Business,” a Chamber publication from 1912 until 1999.  It also turned out to be a photo curator’s dream collection. As Hagley staff worked through the images, they discovered photographs by some of the 20th century’s greatest photographers, such as Lewis Hine, Margaret Bourke-White, Art Rothstein, William Rittase, Robert Yarnell Richie, and many others.


Image:  “Old Faithful skilled machinist”, by Lewis Wickes Hine, 1921. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce “Nation’s Business” collection, PC Accession 93.230)

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce began in 1912, after President Taft pointed out the need for a “central organization in touch with associations and chambers of commerce throughout the country.” Almost immediately the Chamber began publication of a periodical to reach out to businesses everywhere. The first issue of “Nation’s Business” came out on September 22, 1912 in tabloid format. In 1921 it adopted a modern magazine design and became more heavily illustrated. The last issue was June, 1999, the Chamber having decided that the Internet was a more efficient way to reach its public.


Now, with the 100th anniversary of the Chamber looming, Jon Williams, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Prints and Photographs, is making a selection of 100 prints from the collection to include in an exhibit slated for 2012. He continues to make exciting finds practically every day. Coming across a photograph of a woman reaching for a jar on a kitchen shelf, he turned it over to find “André Kertész” stamped on the back.  Kertész (1894-1985) was born in Hungary, moved to Paris in 1925, and came to the United States in 1936. He then did a lot of photography for magazines, and the black and white image in the Nation’s Business collection probably dates from this pre-war period.  Kertész is now recognized as one of the giants of photography. John Szarkowski, former curator of photography at the Museum of Modern Art, stated that “perhaps more than any other photographer, André Kertész discovered and demonstrated the special aesthetic of the small camera.”
 

Andre Kertesz’s name stamped on the back of “Ever-busy mother.”

Image: “Ever-busy mother” by Andre Kertesz, ca. 1940. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce “Nation’s Business” collection, PC Accession 93.230)

The photographs in the Nation’s Business collection cover an incredibly wide variety of subjects. There is a picture of President Calvin Coolidge wearing a Sioux headdress as he meets with tribal elders (image to the right), many photographs from the WPA and FSA photo projects during the Great Depression, images of industry in World War II, and pictures of turmoil during the 1960s, as well as NASA photographs from the Apollo space program. While many of the mostly black and white photographic prints have white ink crop marks directly on the image, this does not diminish the interest and intensity of the pictures. It is, in fact, useful and intriguing to see how the photo editors worked in changing the image to suit the needs of the magazine.

Image:  “President Coolidge initiated in the Sioux Tribe is given the head dress by Princess Rose Bud Yellow Robe, direct descendant of Sitting Bull…”, August 8, 1927, International Newsreel photograph. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce “Nation’s Business” collection, PC Accession 93.230)

Selection of only 100 pictures from these riches is proving to be difficult indeed. Keep an eye on this blog for news of more discoveries as this process goes on.

For more information about this collection and other pictorial collections, please contact Jon Williams at 302-658-2400, x276 or jwilliams@hagley.org.

For more information about the Hagley Library, please visit www.hagley.org/library.