An Inventory of His Photography Collection at the Harry Ransom
Center
Creator:
Lee, Russell, 1903-1986
Title:
Russell Lee Photography
Collection
Dates:
1930s-1966
Extent:
955 items (37 linear feet)
Abstract:
The collection consists of 955
photographs by Russell Lee (American, 1903-1986) of various subjects including work
done in Italy and Texas, also work done for the Farm Service Administration, Air
Transport Command, Standard Oil (New Jersey), Jones & Laughlin Steel
(Pittsburgh, PA), and a medical survey.
Call Number:
Photography Collection
PH-00082
Language:
English
Access:
Open for research. Please note: Transparencies may be accessed but require 24 hours
advance notice. Negatives cannot be accessed without curatorial approval. Light
sensitive materials must be viewed under low-level lighting. Some materials may be
restricted from viewing. To make an appointment or to reserve photography materials,
please contact the Center's staff at photography@hrc.utexas.edu.
Administrative Information
Acquisition:
Gifts of Russell and Jean Lee, 1961, an anonymous donor, 1979, Jean Lee, 1986 (G
2908), Tom Livesay, 2003 (G 12337), an anonymous donor, 2004 (G 12406), and Howard
Greenburg, 2009 (09-12-011-G), and purchased, 2015 (15-01-005-P).
Russell Lee (American, 1903-1986) was born on July 21, 1903, and reared in Ottowa,
Illinois. He attented Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1925 with
a degree in chemical engineering. He obtained employment as an engineer and returned
to Illinois, where he married painter Doris Emrick. Eventually Lee left engineering
to become a painter, but soon found he enjoyed taking photographs when he began
using photography to assist his painting. His background as a chemical engineer led
to experiments with developing chemicals and techniques.
In 1936, Lee joined a group of photographers working with the Farm Security
Administration (FSA). Under the leadership of Roy Stryker, the FSA photographers
documented the ravages of the Great Depression and shaped the way Americans viewed
poverty. Lee and Emrick divorced in 1938, and he met journalist Jean Smith, whom he
later married. Lee remained with the FSA until the end of the photography project
in
1943.
During World War II, Lee served with the Air Transport Command, a unit of the United
States Air Force. While part of that unit Lee took photographs documenting the daily
lives of airmen, their equipment, and places they served. After his service, Lee
continued to work as a photographer. He was hired by the Department of the Interior
to document conditions of miners and their families in Appalachia, and he produced
photographs for the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and Jones & Laughlin
Steel.
Lee settled in Austin after World War II and established the first photography
curriculum in the Department of Art at the University of Texas (UT) in 1958. He
remained on the faculty until his retirement in 1974; he continued an informal and
active relationship with the photography faculty and students at UT until his death.
He was the first influential photographer at the university and numbered among his
many former students are such photographers as Ave Bonar, Jim Bones, Jimmie
Jalapeeno and John Christian. Lee died on August 28, 1986.
Scope and Contents
Scope and Contents
Although Russell Lee is most famous for his long career as a photographer with the
Farm Security Administration, the photographs in the Russell Lee Photography
Collection cover a wide range of subjects, nearly all of which reflect his
compassionate commitment to people and the lives they led. Much of the collection
is
made up of a posthumous gift from the photographer of all the vintage original
prints remaining in his estate at his death. Lee's photographs for the Farm Security
Administration, taken between 1936-1942, make up a large part of the collection.
Other important series are a medical survey of conditions in the coal mining
industry; a series Lee took while serving with the Air Tranport Command; work for
the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and Jones & Laughlin Steel; and a
portfolio taken in Italy. The collection is divided into eight series. Series I
consists of prints from the Farm Security Administration. Included as part of the
FSA images is a series of photographs Lee took in Pie Town, New Mexico in 1940.
Series II contains images Lee made during his service in the Air Tranport Command.
In 1946 the Department of the Interior worked with the United Mine Workers to survey
conditions in the coalfields of Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia. Lee was hired
to document the lives of coal miners and their families. This series (Series III)
includes images of schoolchildren, living conditions, medical care, sanitary
conditions, worshippers at church, families, and workers at the mines. Series IV
consists of photographs Lee took for the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey;
photographs for Jones & Laughlin Steel are in Series VI. Series V and VII
contain images of Texas and Italy, while Series VIII is made up of photatographs Lee
took as he began to explore photography and two from Norway much later in his
career.
Series Outline
Series I. Farm Security Administration, 1936-1942
Series II. Air Transport Command, 1943-1945
Series III. Department of the Interior, medical survey of
coal miners, 1946-1947
Series IV. Standard Oil Company of New Jersey,
1947-1964
Series V. Texas, 1943-1960
Series VI. Jones & Laughlin Steel, 1952-1964
Series VII. Italy, 1960
Series VIII. Other work, circa 1935-1966
Related Material
Additional works by Russell Lee can be found in the Standard Oil Company Photography
Collection (PH-00109). Works by other photographers who worked for the Farm Security
Administration include the Sanora Babb Literary File Photography Collection
(PH-01826), the Walker Evans Photography Collection (PH-00065), the Dorothea Lange
Photography Collection (PH-01258), Carl Mydans Photography Collection (PH-02054),
and the Arthur Rothstein Photography Collection (PH-01381).
Index Terms
People
Lee, Russell, 1903-1986.
Subjects
African American coal
miners--Kentucky.
Children of coal miners.
Coal mines and mining.
Dry farming.
Dust Bowl Era, 1931-1939.
Great Depression.
Jones & Laughlin Steel
Corporation.
Standard Oil Company of New
Jersey.
United States. Army Air Forces. Air
Transport Command.
United States. Department of the
Interior.
United States. Farm Security
Administration.
United States. Farm Security
Administration--Photograph collections.
