Arthur E. Scott photograph collection

Collection

Identifier: C0096

Staff Only

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".

Dates

1910 - 1976

Creator

Scott, Arthur E., 1917-1976 (Person)

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

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.

Biographical Information

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.

Extent

32 Linear Feet (43 boxes; 27 scrapbooks)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Arrangement

Arranged into six series.

Series

Series 1: People, 1910-1976 (Boxes 1-7, 12-22, 26-27, 29-42)
Series 2: Places, 1927-1976 (Boxes 7-9, 22-23, 27, 31, 43, Oversize)
Series 3: Events, 1921-1976 (Boxes 9-11, 23-25, 27, 30, 33, 35-36, 38-42)
Series 4: Art, Publications, Reference Materials, 1918-1976 (Boxes 11, 25, 27, 35, 38)
Series 5: Scrapbooks, 1918-1946 (Volumes 1-14 and unnumbered)
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

Acquisition Information

Collection donated by Grace L. Scott in 1981. Scrapbooks donated by Barbara Thaler in 2006.

Alternative Form Available

Selected images from the Scott collection are available online through the Arthur E. Scott Photograph Collection.

Related Material

The Special Collections Research Center holds many other photograph collections. The Charles Baptie photograph collection contains many similar subjects, as does the Oliver F. Atkins photograph collection.

The Senate Historical Office holds the Arthur E. Scott Collection.

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.