Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Guide to the Richard Carver Wood Photographs

Summary

Collection ID:
NMAH.AC.0964
Creators:
Van Vechten, Carl, 1880-1964
Asch, Patsy
Wood, Richard Carver
Dates:
1935-1978, undated
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
2 Cubic feet
11 boxes
Repository:
Photographs taken by Wood including persons prominent in the New York City social, literary, and theatrical fields. Other subjects include architecture, landscapes, still life, dunes, military, and theater in the United States and other countries.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
Photographs, in both print and negative form, by Richard Carver Wood, including architectural photographs; art photographs, including landscapes and still life's; portrait and family photographs; photographs of persons prominent in the New York City social, literary, and theatrical fields. Many of these were taken at theater critic Alexander Woollcott's property at Lake Bomoseen in Vermont, and include Dorothy Parker, Vivien Leigh, Ethel Barrymore, and numerous others. Materials were maintained in the three series that Wood created: Series 1, People, Series 2, Places and Series 3, Subjects. The materials in each series are arranged in alphabetical order by Wood's folder titles.

Arrangement

Arrangement
The collection is arranged into three series.
Series 1: People, 1935-1960, undated
Series 2: Places, 1939-1978, undated
Series 3: Subjects, 1941, undated

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Richard Carver Wood was born in 1902 in Binghamton, New York to Frank Hoyt and Eva Wood. He studied at Hamilton College then the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 1922-1929 where he graduated with a degree in architecture. In the 1930s, Wood struggled to find work in his field and turned his attention to photography. His adopted father, a professor at Hamilton College, put him in contact with a former student, Alexander Woollcott, by then a theater critic with The New Yorker. It was through Woollcott that Wood met many of the famous people he photographed, many on Woollcott's Lake Bomoseen, Vermont, property, though Wood also photographed places, buildings, and subjects like the Perkins School for the Blind.
When America became involved in World War II, Wood was stationed in Hawaii as part of the Army Signal Corps. It was there that he turned to film, and after the end of World War II he worked first with a small dental company for a few years, and then began freelancing. His film work culminated with the 1954 Academy Award winning documentary The Unconquered, a biography of his one-time photography subject Helen Keller.
It was around the time of the Keller documentary that Wood again found work as an architect with an East Hampton firm. He would remain in architecture from then on, rarely taking photographs. Wood died on November 23, 1989 at the age of eighty-seven years old.

Administration

Author
Michelle Holewa and Vanessa Broussard-Simmons
Immediate Source of Acquisiton
Donated by Wood's daughter, Patsy Asch, to the Archives Center in 2007.
Processing Information
Collection processed by Vanessa Broussard- Simmons.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Preferred Citation
Richard Carver Wood Photographs, 1935-1978, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Patsy Asch.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Vermont Geographic Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Celebrities -- 20th century Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographers -- New York Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Barrymore, Ethel Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Borge, Victor Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bowman, Patricia Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Abbott, George, 1887-1995 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Onassis, Jacqueline Kennedy, 1929-1994 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Baragwanath, Jack Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Barrett, Edith Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gordon, Ruth, 1896- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hart, Moss, 1904-1961 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fontanne, Lynn Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Frost, Robert, 1874-1963 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Lunt, Alfred Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Martin, Mary, 1913- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Keller, Helen, 1880-1968 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Leigh, Vivien, 1913-1967 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cornell, Katharine, 1893-1974 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Coward, Noel, 1899-1973 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Cassini, Igor, 1915- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Castle, Irene, 1893-1969 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Edmonds, Walter Dumaux, 1903-1998 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fleischmann, Raoul L. Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Dowling, Eddie Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Eckstein, Gustave Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Swope, Herbert Bayard, 1882-1958 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Rice, Grantland, 1880-1954 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Brown, John Mason, 1900-1969 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Miller, Alice Duer, 1874-1942 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Meade, Donald Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Skinner, Cornelia Otis, 1901- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
McMein, Neysa Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Marx, Harpo, 1888-1964 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Radziwill, Lee Bouvier, 1933- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Parker, Dorothy, 1893-1967 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Olivier, Laurence, 1907-1989 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

Archives Center, National Museum of American History
P.O. Box 37012
Suite 1100, MRC 601
Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
archivescenter@si.edu