Call Number:

PH-00374

Collection Name:

Bill Bridges Papers and Photography Collection

Creator:

No. of Items:

25700 items

Span Dates:

1951-1979

Description:

William "Bill" Carpenter Bridges' career as a free-lance photojournalist based in southern California from 1955 to 1979 is documented through this collection of story suggestions and assignments, narrative reports and captions, negatives, contact sheets, enlargements and transparencies, business records, correspondence, memoranda, notes, research materials, clippings, tear sheets, magazines and other publications (books, calendars, annual reports, etc.), and two scrapbooks. The collection has been divided into the following four series: I. Story Files, 1957-1977; II. Published Materials, 1957-1977; III. Business Files, 1951-1972; and IV. Personal Files, 1958-1979. All subseries have been arranged alphabetically by file title. When possible, Bridges' file titles were retained; additional descriptive text appears in brackets. For preservation reasons, all negatives and transparencies have been separated from the rest of the collection and are not generally available to researchers. Although separated physically from the other collection materials, negatives are linked intellectually to their associated materials through the container list.

The bulk of the collection pertains to Bridges' story files, most of which are represented by text documents, negatives, contact sheets, and enlargements (Series I). Many of Bridges' story files represent his career beginning as a "runner" for Life, through his years as a staff photographer for the Saturday Evening Post, and ending with his freelance work for magazines and corporations alike. Bridges saved tear sheets from, and complete issues of, magazines in which his work was published (Series II). Because Bridges maintained these files separately from his story files references have been placed in the container list to provide links to like materials. Publications represented in the collection include: Life, Time, the Saturday Evening Post, West, the New York Times Magazine, Esquire, and America Illustrated. Story subject matter covers a broad spectrum from the Hollywood celebrities, including Jayne Mansfield and Warren Beatty, to the most social issues, including air and noise pollution and drug abuse. In between are stories concerning advances in science and medicine, from nuclear rockets to health care for premature babies; the political atmosphere, including the 1960 Democratic National Convention; landmark occasions, like John F. Kennedy's funeral; and prominent figures of the worlds of sports and entertainment, including Sandy Kofax and Dean Martin.

In addition to Bridges' story files and published materials, the collection contains his business files (Series III). The bulk of these files reflect the various magazines for which Bridges worked. This series also contains correspondence documenting the sales of Bridges' photographs to individuals and publishers alike. Present too are story suggestions Bridges pitched to various publications in hopes of securing more business.

The smallest portion of the collection is a gathering of documents relating to Bridges' personal Life (Series IV). Included are family snapshots, clippings about Bridges, clippings of personal interest, a portion of his daughter's scrapbook, and her collection of clippings and press releases concerning the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Monkees, and the 1960's Youth Quake movement.

Series Outline

Series I. Story Files, 1957-1977

Series II. Published Materials, 1957-1977

Series III. Business Files, 1951-1972

Series IV. Personal Files, 1958-1979

Arrangement by Format

Contact sheets, enlargements, paper material: Boxes 1-51

Negatives: Boxes 52-65.32

Transparencies: Boxes 65.33-65.40

Business and personal records: Boxes 66-78

Scrapbooks: Boxes 79-80

Series Descriptions

Series I. Story Files, 1957-1977 (65 boxes, 1 oversize box)

This series, the bulk of the collection, is comprised of Bridges' story files. These files originally arrived housed in envelopes and file folders. Each package contained information which pertained to a given story assignment. The labels on each packet, generally provided by Bridges, but in some cases provided by publishers, reflected the subject(s) of the story materials contained within, be it the name of an individual, a place name, an event, or a generic subject heading. Although contents of each packet varied, they generally included correspondence (frequently with more than one publisher), narrative reports, contact sheets, negatives, notes, and shipping receipts. In keeping with Bridges' original filing scheme, the files have been arranged alphabetically. Titles off-set by single quotation marks indicate Bridges' original file names. When deemed necessary, additional clarifying information has been placed either in brackets within the title or placed after the file title.

The photographic material included in this series consists almost entirely of black-and-white film, contact sheets and enlargements. Most of the film is 35mm format, although there is also some 120mm format film, and even two rolls of 9.5mm film from a Minox spy camera. For most story assignments there is at least one set of contact sheets. Additionally, the collection contains a few color transparencies and color enlargements. Although Bridges' did shoot color film in addition to black-and-white film for a number of stories, only his black-and-white film is held by the Ransom Center. For preservation purposes, and because there are contact sheets available for nearly every roll of film, all negatives have been housed separately and are not generally accessible to the public.

The enlargements originally arrived in several large packing boxes, a couple contained alphabetical dividers and one contained dividers with subject headings. To facilitate retrieval, all enlargements were integrated with corresponding story materials. (An inventory of enlargements filed under subject headings is available upon request.) Although nearly all the enlargements are of Bridges' work, there are several photographs credited to government agencies as well as the following photographers: J. Burke, Mike Duplaix, Allan Grant, George Silk, Phil Stern, and Leigh Wiener.

Being based in Malibu, it is no surprise that a number of story file titles read like a Who's Who of Hollywood during the late 1950s and 1960s. Notable personalities featured include: Fred Astaire, Frankie Avalon, Warren Beatty, Ingrid Bergman, Sarah Churchill, Doris Day, Peter Falk, Jackie Gleason, Goldie Hawn, Alfred Hitchcock, Buster Keaton, Donna Loren, Jayne Mansfield, Pamela Mason, Steve McQueen, Sal Mineo, Sidney Poitier, Otto Preminger, Vincent Price, Donna Reed, Sharon Tate, Lana Turner, Robert Vaughn, John Wayne, and Natalie Wood. Bridges' work in Hollywood occasionally took him behind the scenes of various television shows and movies and is reflected in story files on Bonanza, Maverick, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, A Raisin in the Sun, Sergeant Deadhead, and Skidoo.

Still other story files cover figures from the entertainment world. Prominent individuals from both "high" and "pop" culture include: Ann-Margret, Sam Cooke, Sammy Davis Jr., Al Hirt, Lena Horne, Jefferson Airplane, Dean Martin, Gregor Piatigorsky Andre Previn, Michael Rabin, Don Rickels, Sonny and Cher, and George Solti. Much of this work was done for RCA, some of which were featured as record album artwork.

During the late 1950s and 1960s science was advancing by leaps and bounds both in hospitals and in space, and Bridges' story files span from operating rooms to rocket launch sites. Portraits featured include pioneering scientists and doctors alike such as Richard P. Feynman, Dr. Curtis P. Artz, Herman Kahn, and Charles Francis Richter. Subject matter includes the Mariner Space Probe, a nuclear space rocket, Palomar Observatory, Galveston Shriners Hospital, and the Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto.

Politically the 1960s were a charged Time. Bridges' photographs capture historic moments like the 1960 Democratic National Convention and the 1964 Republican National Convention. There are portraits of prominent politicians including Barry Goldwater, Hubert H. Humphrey, John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Adlai Stevens. And there are photographs of a variety of groups including members of the John Birch Society, [Ralph] Nadar's Raiders, and the Fund for the Republic.

Bridges' cover a number of social issues of local as well as national interest. The largest story file, commissioned by the Saturday Evening Post, documents poverty across America. Story files are also present on the drug trade, gambling, and the mafia. On a local level are stories on smog, noise pollution from jet airplanes, and the homeless in Los Angeles.

Some of Bridges' more famous images reflect the varied subject matter he was assigned to cover. There is portrait of Jackie Kennedy taken in Washington during the funeral of her husband that ran full page in the Saturday Evening Post. There is the glowing streak of Sputnik as it flew over Los Angeles which Life chose to represent 1957 in a special television event titled "25 Years of Life". There are photographs of crazy national fads from hula-hoops and car-stuffing. And there are photographs which opened the eyes of the nation to the problems like poverty and the state of mental health care.

Series II. Published Materials, 1957-1977 (10 boxes, 2 oversize boxes)

The majority of Bridges' story files were commissioned by magazine publishers. The bulk of this series includes a large collection of tear sheets from, and complete issues of, magazines in which Bridges' work appeared. Tear sheets for individual stories have been foldered separately, but to facilitate retrieval they have been interfiled with complete issues of the corresponding publications. These materials have been arranged first alphabetically by publication title and second chronologically.

This series also contains two scrapbooks assembled by Bridges both of which contain tear sheets showing his work. Additionally there are clippings of newspaper articles illustrated with his photographs, and a college year book in which one of his photographs appears.

Bridges' photographs were published in at least two books, Art Seidenbaum's Confrontation on Campus: Student Challenge in California (Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1969), and Don Fabun's Dimensions of Change (Beverly Hills: Glencoe Press, 1971). Copies of these two publications arrived with the collection and have been transferred to the Ransom Center's library.

Series III. Business Files, 1951-1972, undated (1.25 boxes)

This series brings together several paper-based files, which were originally interfiled with story files, that pertain largely to the sales of Bridges' photographs. Seven of these files bore the names of magazines in which Bridges' photographs frequently appeared. These files were grouped under a subseries titled Publication Files. Six other subseries were created, most of which bear Bridges' titles. The titles reflect the various stages of story production (i.e., 'Story suggestions,' 'Cooking/Open,' and 'Sales'), and record types (i.e., Correspondence, 'Model releases,' and 'Misc[ellaneous]'). The 'Cooking/Open' subseries is a combination of two files that both contained documents relating to works in progress. The 'Sales' subseries includes documents with a number of magazines publishers not covered by his Publication Files. As a group these documents illustrate the breadth of Bridges' clientele as well as the variety of subject matter he covered.

Series IV. Personal Files, 1958-1979 (.75 boxes)

The materials in this series, consisting of negatives, photographs, clippings, tear sheets, magazines, pamphlets, press releases, scrapbook pages, correspondence, and ephemera, provide a small glimpse into Bridges' family and personal Life during the late 1950s and 1960s. About half the material includes snapshots of Bridges, his wife, their children and their various pets, clippings and tear sheets for articles which mention or are about Bridges, and clippings Bridges saved which are neither about him nor include photographs by him. The other half of the material may have belonged to his daughter Kate during her teen-age years. Included are a few postcards, several scrapbook pages, and various press releases, magazines and clippings about the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Monkees, and the Youth Quake movement of the late 1960s.

Accession No(s):

958:0022:0000

Finding Aid URL:

https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=01154

Location(s):

Curatorial permission required Unprocessed boxes 01-65
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Bridges, B., Boxes 79-80 (oversize)
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Bridges, B., Boxes 01-06
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Bridges, B., Boxes 07-12
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Bridges, B., Boxes 13-18
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Bridges, B., Boxes 19-24
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Bridges, B., Boxes 25-30
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Bridges, B., Boxes 31-36
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Bridges, B., Boxes 37-42
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Bridges, B., Boxes 43-48
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Bridges, B., Boxes 49-54
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Bridges, B., Boxes 55-60
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Bridges, B., Boxes 61-66
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Bridges, B., Boxes 67-72
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Bridges, B., Boxes 73-78
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