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Finding Aids
Jack White Photograph Collection 11.2 linear ft. Accession Number: 94-64 Prepared by Shirley R. Rodnitzky
CITATION: Jack White Photograph Collection, AR407, Box number, Folder number, Special Collections Division, The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. Table of Contents Biographical Sketch Biographical SketchJack D. White was born on January 17, 1927, in San Angelo, Texas. His parents, John Nathan White and Billie Lorena Dumas White, moved the family to Fort Worth shortly after his birth and he was raised and educated there. After graduation from Amon Carter Riverside High School in 1944, White worked briefly for the Fort Worth Press as a sports writer covering high school sports under legendary sports editor H. H. "Pop" Boone. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1945, during World War II. After his discharge in 1946, White returned to Fort Worth to pursue his interest in journalism, art, and history. He graduated from Texas Christian University in 1949, with a B.A. in journalism and began an advertising career as copywriter and art director at Yates Advertising Agency in Fort Worth. In 1954, he joined the Witherspoon and Ridings Public Relations Agency in Fort Worth, which later became Witherspoon and Associates, at the time the largest advertising agency in town. White began as the firm’s first art director and during his twenty-seven years with the agency rose to vice-president, executive art director, personnel manager, and part owner. He specialized in design, type management, and photography and developed their in-house facilities for darkroom work, studio photography, and slide show presentations. Although White had photographed the city since the 1950s, he only began collecting Fort Worth photographs seriously in 1972, when Witherspoon was planning the 100th anniversary of one of its clients, the Fort Worth National Bank. He was in charge of acquiring copies of historical prints of Fort Worth for the bank’s annual report, a historical booklet, and an exhibit for the bank lobby. After the anniversary event, he took care to preserve all the exhibit materials. During the next twenty years White reproduced other clients’ historical photographs and took hundreds of pictures to add to the collection. Another of White’s areas of expertise and collecting interests is the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, in 1963. He is nationally known as an expert on the assassination and served as a photographic consultant to the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations during the hearings. He was also a consultant on the Oliver Stone film, JFK. As a result of his interest in the Kennedy assassination, White published two videotapes on his photographic studies of the assassination. He has developed a slide lecture, which he presents to classes and symposia on the JFK assassination and also contributes his research to professional journals. White retired from Witherspoon and Associates in 1981, and formed his own company, Jack White Enterprises, which specialized in free-lance art and photography. In 1984, as business increased, he took on partners. The firm’s name changed to VJS Companies, and the company added new services, including typography and photostats. The firm closed for a brief period in 1991, following several setbacks, but reopened later in the year as Jack White Graphic Arts. Now retired, White lives in the White Lake Hills addition in east Fort Worth with his wife the former Sue Benningfield. Their home, built in 1970, was designed to focus on a view of the downtown Fort Worth skyline. Series DescriptionThe Jack White Photograph Collection is arranged in eight series: Series I. Prints and Contact Sheets, 1860s-1990s, bulk 1873-1980s. 3.5 linear ft. (9 document boxes). Arranged alphabetically in subseries by subject, then alphabetically by description or title of print, then chronologically. These are primarily 8"x10" black and white prints, originals and reproductions. Many of the prints are reproduced as slides in Series II. Series II. Slides, 1873-ca. 1990. 3.9 linear ft. (10 document boxes) Arranged in subseries by size then alphabetically by subject or by description of slide. This series includes slide presentations and individual slides, primarily 35mm slides. Most of the slides are color reproductions and many are reproductions of the prints in Series I. Series III. Negatives, ca. 1964-1973. .83 linear ft. (2 document boxes) Arranged in subseries by negative size, then alphabetically by description or title of negative. Includes 8"x10", 4"x5", 35mm, and 2.25" negatives. The negatives include a few subjects only and do not include negatives for most of the prints in the collection. Series IV. Geological Survey Sites Negatives and Photographs, ca. 1935-1941. .21 linear ft. (1 document box) Arranged in subseries by print size with negatives in a separate subseries. These are primarily snapshots of geological sites and land features in New Mexico and West Texas. Series V. Shirley Harris Daniel Family Photograph Collection, ca. 1890s-1915. .4 linear ft. (1 document box) Arranged in subseries by size, then alphabetically by name or description of photographs. These are primarily unidentified and undated portraits of men, women, and children around the turn of the twentieth century in Enid, Oklahoma. The prints are primarily cabinet cards, albumen prints, and one tintype is included. Series VI. Printed Material and Research Notes, 1948-1994. .83 linear ft. (2 document boxes) Arranged alphabetically by publisher, creator, or subject. Series VII. Miscellaneous, n.d. .25 linear ft. (2 items) Two items, an audio recording and a brass letter opener. Series VIII. Oversize Material, 1873-1993. 1.25 linear ft. (6 oversize boxes) Arranged in subseries by type of material, then by size, then alphabetically by subject or description. Included are photographs, maps, and printed material. Scope and Content NoteThe Jack White Photograph Collection, housed in thirty-one boxes of varying sizes, is composed primarily of photographs and slides acquired, reproduced, or created by White while collecting images of the city of Fort Worth, Texas, for over forty years. The images highlight Fort Worth’s history and expansion. The collection focuses on city and county leaders, historic buildings, and the economic and cultural growth and development of Fort Worth from its days as a Victorian outpost on the prairie to the city’s emergence as a vital cultural, business, and financial trade center in the twentieth century. The collection also includes negatives, maps, an audio tape recording, an artifact, and printed materials. Slide presentations describe Fort Worth history, the Gruen Plan for Fort Worth, and the construction of the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike. Although the collection centers on Fort Worth, there are a few photographs of other metroplex cities, such as Arlington and Dallas, and several views of the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike. There are also prints of oil wells and oil production scenes from Texas and other states, geological sites in New Mexico and West Texas, and late eighteenth century and early twentieth century originals of an Oklahoma family. Most of the images not created by White were reproduced from private collections and local library collections. Shortly after the Jack White Photograph Collection was donated, staff member Jerry Stafford met with White to interview him and take notes about the content of the collection. Archival interns Sandra Jackson and Mike Gingrich did preliminary sorting and Gingrich compiled a preliminary guide. White later met periodically with archival intern Diana Mays and together they created the arrangement scheme for the first two series. The final order of the remaining series was based on the pattern that they had devised. The final processing and the compilation of the guide to the collection was completed by staff archivist Shirley Rodnitzky. The collection was organized by type or size of material into eight series. Most of the series include further subdivisions by subject, description, or size. Series I is comprised of 8"x10" black and white prints and contact sheets of 35mm negatives which primarily show events, people, and places in Fort Worth. The bulk of the series is twentieth century images organized by subject. Many of the prints appear as slides, which are located in Series II. There are four slide presentations in this series. White’s script and slide presentation about historic Fort Worth, which was presented at a meeting of the Friends of the UT Arlington Library in 1994, precedes the individual slides, which are 35mm or larger, and three other slide presentations as described above. Each folder contains a brief identification of the slides. Series III contains negatives in varying sizes. These negatives are of oil production scenes (particularly Ambassador Oil), the Fort Worth National Bank during new building construction, and Hobbs Trailers Corporation. Series IV is comprised of negatives and snapshots of geological survey sites in New Mexico and West Texas acquired from an artist friend, Jim Stuart. Series V is a collection of early photographs from the Shirley Harris Daniel Family of Enid, Oklahoma, also acquired from a friend. They are primarily portraits of individuals and families. Very few are identified or dated. Series VI contains printed material that White collected about Fort Worth history. There are also his research notes, which describe historic Fort Worth photographs at the Fort Worth Public Library, a brochure regarding the services of Jack White Enterprises, and material which White designed. Series VII consists of a tape recording about the Gruen Plan for Fort Worth, ca. 1956, and a brass letter opener. Series VIII contains photographs and printed material, which could not be housed in Series I or Series VI due to size limitations in the original location. Many of them are larger copies of prints found in Series 1. Provenance StatementThe Jack White Photograph Collection was donated to the Special Collections Division of the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries by Jack White of Fort Worth, Texas, on June 29, 1994. The donation was negotiated by Gerald Saxon, Associate Director for Special Collections. Literary Rights StatementPermission to reproduce or publish any of the materials in the Jack White Photograph Collection must be obtained from the Special Collections Division. Care should be taken to contact the original copyright holder for publication of any materials in the collection that are owned by other individuals or libraries. Note to the ResearcherThe number count in parenthesis following the photographs, contact sheets, and slides represent the number of items in that folder. They do not necessarily signify the number of unique images. A decision was made upon receipt of the collection to retain all duplicate images donated by Jack White. If a researcher desires a copy of any image in the collection, a negative will be created from the best copy available and a reproduction will be made. Please consult the Special Collections Division Schedule of Fees for reproduction prices. See also: Accession Number 94-64, the Jack White Slides Collection, five linear feet of slides. White produced these slides for advertising clients during his years at Witherspoon and Associates and for personal projects. The W. D. Smith, Inc. Commercial Photography Negative Collection is now owned by the Special Collections Division. Negatives of any images found in Jack White’s collection that are attributed to W. D. Smith may be located in the Smith collection by the negative number on the verso of the photo. Some items that were received with the collection were transferred to other locations in Special Collections. Three copies of an 1873 plat map of Fort Worth, Texas, were cataloged and placed in the Virginia Garrett Cartographic History Library. An Underwood typewriter, ca. 1930s, originally owned and used by Fort Worth Press sports writer H. H. "Pop" Boone was transferred to the Artifacts Collection. The Container List for the Jack White Photograph Collection is very large and, thus, has been divided into three additional "pages" or files for your convenience. You may navigate to the Container List from the Table of Contents, the Series Description, or the links provided below. Table of Contents Top of Page Special Collections
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