Arthur E. Scott photograph collection

Access and use

Location of collection:
George Mason University
2400 Fenwick Library
Special Collections Research Center
Fenwick Library MS2FL
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Mieko Palazzo
Phone: (703) 993-2220
Fax: (703) 993-2669
Restrictions:

Collection is open to research.

Terms of access:

Copyright not held by George Mason University Libraries, and some images may be restricted to personal, non-commercial use only. For permission to publish, contact the Special Collections Research Center.

Materials created prior to 1928 are in the Public Domain. These materials have no known restrictions.

Preferred citation:

Arthur E. Scott photograph collection, C0096, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Summary

Extent:
32 Linear Feet 43 boxes; 27 scrapbooks
Creator:
Scott, Arthur E., 1917-1976
Abstract:
This collection contains photographs taken by Arthur E. Scott, a photojournalist and photo-historian for the U.S. Senate. It contains over 5,000 prints and negatives of United States politicians (mainly Senators), political events such as campaigns and inaugurations, and landmarks throughout the Washington, D.C. area, from the mid-1930s to the 1970s. There are also 27 scrapbooks compiled by Arthur E. Scott, primarily consisting of newspaper clippings of Scott's photographs. The collection also contains glass negatives from the 1910s and 1920s that were taken by other photographers.
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Arthur E. Scott photograph collection, C0096, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains photographs taken by Arthur E. Scott, a photojournalist and photo-historian for the U.S. Senate. It contains over 5,000 prints and negatives of United States politicians (mainly Senators), political events such as campaigns and inaugurations, and landmarks throughout the Washington, D.C. area, from the mid-1930s to the 1970s. There are also 27 scrapbooks compiled by Arthur E. Scott, primarily consisting of newspaper clippings of Scott's photographs. The collection also contains photographs from the 1910s and 1920s that were taken by other photographers. The collection contains prints and film negatives in various sizes, as well as glass plate negatives. Boxes 1 through 11, 29, 30, and 43 contain photographic prints; boxes 12 through 25 contain 4 x 5 inch negatives; boxes 26 and 27 contain 4 x 5 inch glass plate negatives; and boxes 31 through 42 contain slides, 35mm negatives, and negatives of various other sizes. The majority of the photographs are in black and white unless otherwise noted.

Series 1 contains photographs of people, including Senators, Representatives, Vice Presidents, Presidents, Supreme Court Justices, and other politicians. It also contains photographs of celebrities, politicians' families, and others. This series contains individual as well as group shots. This series includes photographs of many Republican Party Senators, including George D. Aiken, Gordon Allott, Clifford P. Case, Norris Cotton, Everett M. Dirksen, Robert J. Dole, Hiram Fong, Barry M. Goldwater, Roman L. Hruska, Mike Mansfield, Charles H. Percy, Hugh Scott, Margaret Chase Smith, John G. Tower, and many others. Presidents and Vice Presidents pictured include Calvin Coolidge, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John N. Garner, Herbert C. Hoover, Gerald R. Ford, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard M. Nixon. The series also includes photographs of astronauts John Glenn, Virgil "Gus" Grissom, and Alan B. Shepard.

Series 2 contains photographs of building interiors and exteriors, monuments, landmarks, and parks. The majority of the series consists of photographs of the Washington, D.C. area. This series includes photographs of Arlington National Cemetery, the U.S. Capitol Building, the U.S. Supreme Court Building, the Potomac River, the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial. It also includes aerial shots of Washington, D.C. and the Panama Canal Zone, Panama.

Series 3 contains photographs of events such as dinners, meetings, fundraisers, campaigns, conventions, and inaugurations. The events pictured in the series include the 1960 and 1964 Republican National Conventions; Richard M. Nixon campaign events in California and Hawaii (1960); and inaugurations and oaths of office for politicians such as Gerald R. Ford, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard M. Nixon, Nelson A. Rockefeller, and Warren G. Harding. It also contains photographs of natural disasters, such as floods, and photographs of politicians and celebrities receiving Buddy Poppies from the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Series 4 contains photographs of published newspapers, as well as photographs of art works. It also contains reference publications and correspondence which relate to the photographs in the collection. Photographs of published newspapers include New York Times and New York Herald articles on the Battle of Gettysburg and the deaths of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. The art works pictured included the George Gordon Meade Memorial, Samuel Gompers Memorial, and a monument to Casimir Pulaski. The series also includes "Virginia Political Greats", a report written by Scott in May 1976, as well as correspondence and captions regarding photographs taken by Scott.

Series 5 consists of scrapbooks compiled by Arthur Scott. These scrapbooks document events from 1918 through 1946. Most items contained within the scrapbooks are newspaper clippings, many of which depict photographs taken by Scott. The scrapbooks document events including the presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, as well as the run-up to World War II and homefront activities during the war years. The scrapbooks also contain press passes, expense reports, and schedules relating to Scott's photojournalism activities.

Series 6 consists of photographic supplies used by Scott. Photographic supplies include slide cases, as well as film canisters labeled "1952", "1964 GOP Convention San Francisco", "Gene Autry by Barry Goldwater", and "Stereo Photos South America Vacation 1966".

Biographical / historical:

Arthur E. "Scotty" Scott, was born March 14, 1917, in Montpelier, Vermont. In 1925 his family moved to Washington, D.C., where Scott spent most of his life. Scott began his press career at the age of 13, as a copyboy for the Washington Times-Herald. From 1934-1955, Scott served as a news photographer for International News Photos (INP) and Wide World Photos. Scott first covered the United States Congress in 1935 as a photographer for the Washington Times From 1955-1974, Scott worked as a photographer for the Republican Senatorial Committee (1965-1964) and the Republication Policy Committee (1964-1974). In 1975, the year the Senate Historical Office was created, Scott became the Senate's first photo-historian. As photo-historian, Scott was tasked with building a collection of graphic representations of the Senate's history. Scott died on December 2, 1976.

Acquisition information:
Collection donated by Grace L. Scott in 1981. Scrapbooks donated by Barbara Thaler in 2006.
Processing information:

Processed by Special Collections Research Center staff. Additional processing completed by Stacey Kniatt and Shira Loev in 2010-2011. EAD markup completed by Stacey Kniatt and Shira Loev in 2010-2011. Finding aid updated by Amanda Menjivar in March 2023.

Staff rehoused the collection into suitable archival enclosures, organized the collection by media and series, and created an EAD finding aid and MARC record.

This collection was reprocessed in 2010-2011 using funds from a National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) Detailed Processing Grant.

Arrangement:

Arranged into six series.

Series
  1. Series 1: People, 1910-1976 (Boxes 1-7, 12-22, 26-27, 29-42)
  2. Series 2: Places, 1927-1976 (Boxes 7-9, 22-23, 27, 31, 43, Oversize)
  3. Series 3: Events, 1921-1976 (Boxes 9-11, 23-25, 27, 30, 33, 35-36, 38-42)
  4. Series 4: Art, Publications, Reference Materials, 1918-1976 (Boxes 11, 25, 27, 35, 38)
  5. Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1918-1946 (Volumes 1-14 and unnumbered)
  6. Series 6: Realia, 1950s-1960s (Box 28)
Physical location:
R 32, C 1, S 1 - S 5 R 32, C 2, S 1 OS R 6, C 2, S 3 - S 7 Map Case 11.5
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Actors -- United States
Aerial photographs
Astronauts
Campaign speeches
Committees
Congresses and conventions
Funeral rites and ceremonies
Legislators -- United States
Legislators' spouses
Lincoln Memorial (Washington, D.C.)
National Statuary Hall (United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.)
Photography -- Negatives
Political campaigns -- United States
Political conventions
Portraits
Presidents -- United States
Presidents -- United States -- Inauguration
Slides (Photography)
Speeches, addresses, etc.
Tomb of the Unknowns (Va.)
Vice-Presidents -- United States
Washington Monument (Washington, D.C.)
Photographic prints
Names:
Washington National Cathedral (Washington, D.C.)
United States. Supreme Court
Boy Scouts of America
Arlington National Cemetery (Arlington, Va.)
United States. Congress. Senate
United States. Congress. House
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
Woodring, Harry Hines, 1887-1967
Wiley, Alexander, 1884-1967
Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994
Vandenberg, Arthur H. (Arthur Hendrick), 1884-1951
Valeo, Francis R. (Francis Ralph), 1916-2006
Tydings, Millard E. (Millard Evelyn), 1890-1961
Scott, William Lloyd, 1915-1997
Tower, John G. (John Goodwin), 1925-1991
Thurmond, Strom, 1902-2003
Smith, Margaret Chase, 1897-1995
Shepard, Alan B. (Alan Bartlett), 1923-1998
Scott, Hugh, 1900-1994
Schoeppel, Andrew Frank, 1894-1962
Rockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich), 1908-1979
Pittman, Key, 1872-1940
Percy, Charles H., 1919-2011
Pepper, Claude, 1900-1989
Fannin, Paul J. (Paul Jones), 1907-2002
Elizabeth, Queen of Great Britain, II, 1926-2022
Dominick, Peter H. (Peter Hoyt), 1915-1981
Dole, Robert J., 1923-2021
Dirksen, Everett McKinley
Dern, George Henry, 1872-1936
Curtis, Carl T. (Carl Thomas), 1905-2000
Cotton, Norris, 1900-1989
Cooper, John Sherman, 1901-1991
Coolidge, Calvin, 1872-1933
Cochran, Steve, 1917-1965
Aiken, George D. (George David), 1892-1984
Allott, Gordon, 1907-1989
Ashurst, Henry Fountain, 1874-1962
Barkley, Alben William, 1877-1956
Beall, J. Glenn, Jr. (John Glenn), 1927-2006
Bennett, Wallace F. (Wallace Foster), 1898-1993
Bible, Alan, 1909-1988
Boggs, J. Caleb (James Caleb), 1909-1993
Borah, William Edgar, 1865-1940
Bridges, Styles, 1898-1961
Bush, Prescott Sheldon, 1895-1972
Case, Clifford P. (Clifford Philip), 1904-1982
Fong, Hiram, 1906-2004
Ford, Gerald R., 1913-2006
Garner, John Nance, 1868-1967
Glenn, John, 1921-2016
Goldwater, Barry M. (Barry Morris), 1909-1998
Griffin, Robert P. (Robert Paul), 1923-2015
Grissom, Virgil I.
Hansen, Clifford P. (Clifford Peter), 1912-2009
Harrison, Pat, 1881-1941
Hickenlooper, Bourke B. (Bourke Blakemore), 1896-1971
Holt, Rush Dew, 1905-1955
Hoover, Herbert Charles, 1903-1969
Hruska, Roman L. (Roman Lee), 1904-1999
Javits, Jacob K. (Jacob Koppel), 1904-1986
Jordan, Len B. (Len Beck), 1899-1983
Keating, Kenneth B. (Kenneth Barnard), 1900-1975
Kuchel, Thomas H.
Mansfield, Mike, 1903-2001
Marshall, George C. (George Catlett), 1880-1959
McNary, Charles Linza, 1874-1944
Morton, Thruston B. (Thruston Ballard), 1907-1982
Places:
Panama Canal (Panama)
Potomac River
Supreme Court Building (Washington, D.C.)
United States Capitol Complex (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.)