Franklin Stewart Harris lantern slides, 1926-1940
Scope and Contents
Contains lantern slides of photographs taken by Harris and copied from original negatives. Includes images from Harris's travels in Asia, Europe, Russia, Mexico, and Iran. Materials date from between 1926 and 1940.
Dates
- 1926-1940
Creator
- Harris, Franklin Stewart, 1884-1960 (creator, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Open for public research. Items kept in cold storage; access requires 24 hours advance notice.
Conditions Governing Use
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances. Permission to use material from this collection must be obtained from Reference Services at specialcollections@byu.edu.
Biographical History
Franklin Stewart Harris (1884-1960) was President of Brigham Young University from 1921 to 1945. During that time he helped the university grow both physically, with adding new buildings and also intellectually by hiring more teachers and establishing international connections for the University.
Franklin Stewart Harris was born August 29, 1884 in Benjamin, Utah. He moved with his family to the state of Chihuahua, Mexico in the 1890s to the Mormon colonies there. He would study at Brigham Young University and go on to Cornell to receive his doctorate.
Harris served as president of Brigham Young University from 1921 until 1945. His administration was characterized by improvement in academics and by growth of the University's physical facilities, such as the construction of the Heber J. Grant Library building. Even with the financial pressures of the Great Depression from the late 1920s to the 1930s, Harris was able to help increase Brigham Young University attendance, library and campus facilities.
In 1945 Harris left Brigham Young University to be the president of the Utah State Agricultural College (what is now Utah State University). He died April 18, 1960 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Extent
From the Collection: 27 boxes (14 linear ft.)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Arranged in four subseries: Lantern slides of around-the-world trip, 1926-1927. 2. Lantern slides of Russia, 1929. 3. Lantern slides of Mexico, 1930-1931. 4. Lantern slides of Iran, 1939-1940. 5. Duplicate lantern slides, 1939-1940.
Other Finding Aids
Item-level inventory available online. http://files.lib.byu.edu/ead/XML/MSSP340.xml
General
(Photographic Archives number 11037-12086).
General
The photograph and the lantern slide are cross referenced to each other in the register. There are some, however, that cannot be matched with an original photograph in this collection. Some of these have identifications printed on the slide, and were probably purchased by Harris. Other slides without an original photograph appear to have been made from illustrations in books or magazines, or possibly from photographs of other men who were on the same trip.
The slides are 3-1/4 x 4 inches (8-1/4 x 10 cm) but the images are various sizes. Some were cropped to make a more artistic slide, and the slides are sometimes a larger, better, and clearer exposure than the smaller photographs.
The around-the-world slides had a card separating each country group, with an alphabetical symbol for that country on the card. New acid-free cards were made to use as dividers, and the same alphabetical symbol was written on each card as on the original.
Processing Information
As processing began, the lantern slides were tied up in bundles, wrapped in brown paper, and tied with string. Names of countries included were on the brown paper, probably not in Harris's handwriting. Two or three bundles were in each box in the MSS 340 collection (containers 27-30). This brown paper wrapping was discarded when the slides were cleaned and re-boxed.
The identifications on the original photograph and the lantern slide are occasionally in conflict. For example, on the photograph it may say Austria, and on the lantern slide it will say Germany. It has been assumed that the original photograph has the correct identification. On the lantern slide the identification has been given as Harris wrote it, but necessary corrections have been made in brackets. If the identification on the lantern slide is just incomplete, not incorrect, no adjustment has been made. But if the lantern slide identification is more complete than the original photograph identification, the latter has information added in brackets. By the same token, Harris's spelling has been used in his identifications, but if the processor provided information in brackets, correct standard spelling is used. Put simply, the original photograph identification is the most complete and accurate.
Most of the groups of slides were accompanied by a set of cards with the identification written for each lantern slide in the group, and it is from these cards that identifications were taken. These cards have been returned to the manuscript collection. There are no cards for the set of lantern slides of Persia. Instead, the number on the slide is the same number as the corresponding photograph. However, there are many errors in this numbering. Sometimes the correct photograph is many pages away from the assigned number, and sometimes two different lantern slides have been given the same number. The slides have been left in the order as given on the original labels, but the correct number of the real original photograph is given in brackets in the register. The register identification for these Persia slides is taken from the photograph identification.
The name of the country has not been repeated for each slide if the country is obvious from a previous heading. Harris sometimes used the name of the country and sometimes did not.
Some of the slides in the Mexico group have been hand colored and are so described in the identification of each individual slide.
For dates of images for all except the Persia subseries, see the original photograph identification.
Repository Details
Part of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections. University Archives Repository
1130 HBLL
Brigham Young University
Provo UT 84602 US