The collection consists of 587
photographs that are primarily portraits and snapshots of Richard Lee Adams'
family but also include photographs of sculpture and furniture created by him.
Additionally there is a small amount of genealogical information on the Adams
family.
Richard Lee Adams was born on March 3, 1908, on his family’s farm in Killeen, Texas.
After briefly attending Texas A & M University, Adams left Texas and
eventually settled in New York City in 1931. Adams married Lucy Terrone in 1933.
Together they had two children, Donovan Samuel, born in 1938, and Lucia Gay, born
in
1942. The family variously lived in Forest Hills, Queens, and Brooklyn, New York.
In
1938, Adams began working as a welder at the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a Works Progress
Administration (WPA) employee. During World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Army,
eventually joining a film production unit in California that made training films.
After the war, Adams returned to New York City and joined Bachrach Studios as
a
portrait and wedding photographer. Adams died on January 20, 1965, in New York
City.
Scope and Contents
Five hundred and eighty-seven photographs, a small leather notebook, and a small
group of manuscript materials, dating from circa 1900 to 2014, document the personal
life of American photographer Richard Lee Adams. The photographs are primarily
family portraits and snapshots taken by Adams between 1935 and 1945 in New York
City
and in Lubbock, Texas. Subjects include his wife, Lucy, and their children, Donovan
and Lucia Gay; his parents; and extended family members. Other photographs are
of
artworks and furniture created by Adams during the 1950s and 1960s.
The collection is arranged in approximate chronological order and then by subject
matter. Descriptions of all items were derived by the archivist from inscriptions
on
the photographs where available. The photographs are black-and-white
unless otherwise noted in the descriptions. The collection contains duplicate
prints and
enlargements of some images. Adams’ Social Security card was removed from the
collection.
Processing information
Photographs were removed from album pages due to preservation concerns. They are
arranged in numerical order based on the numbers found on the image versos.
