Historic Personalities: Vintage Photographs

Historic Photographs

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Historic Personages II

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Albert Camus
1913 - 1960
Writer / Philosopher

The French author and philosopher Albert Camus was the principal luminary in the
absurdity movement (The Myth of Sysiphus). He was the second youngest person
ever to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature (for his writings against
capital punishment) in 1957 at age 44. He died in an automobile crash three years later.
His principal works were The Stranger in 1942 and The Fall in 1956.

This photo is sized 5 x 7 inches and is marked with his name on the back
(not a signature). It is from the late 1950s and is an original photograph.
HP616

Graham Greene
1904 -1991
Writer

A prolific English novelist, playwright, short story writer and critic, Greene
is perhaps best known for The Power and the Glory (1940). From 1925 to 1990,
Greene published one book of verse, 3 travel books, 4 children's books, 4 autobiographies,
8 plays, 10 screen plays, 26 novels and over 50 short stories, plus an assortment of other works.

This photograph is an original Karsh image, printed to 5 x 7 inches as a publicity photo, and was released
in 1965 to publicize The Comedians, his 19th novel. It is marked "Credit: Karsh, Ottowa."
HP617

John Hersey
1914 - 1993
Writer

After writing 17 books and winning a Pulitzer Prize for Literature for his first book,
A Bell for Adano, Hersey is best known for his book Hiroshima published in 1946
shortly after appearing as the entire issue of The New Yorker magazine the same year.
Hiroshima is the story of six survivors of the total annihilation of the
Japanese city by an atomic weapon in 1945.

This photograph is by the famous photographer Elliot Erwitt and is stamped with Erwitt's name stamp
on the reverse, with Hersey's name in pen written above the stamp, probably by Erwitt.
It is not a typical news photo but rather a portrait printed to 5 x 7 inches on double weight portrait paper.
It was probably done in the very early 1950s. The photo is an original print.
HP618

James Michener
1907 - 1997
Writer

Perhaps one of America's most prolific writers, Michener is best know for his
epic novels, Sayonara (1954), Hawaii (1959), The Source (1964), Centennial (1974),
and Space (1982). His 38 other books include his delightful first book,
Tales of the South Pacific (1946) for which he received a Pulitzer Prize and which became
the musical play South Pacific and the movie of the same name.
The Source, a history of the Jewish people, was his most popular book.

This photograph is printed to 5 x 7 inches. On the photo it is noted that it was
photographed in the Holy Land and was released with his book The Source in 1964.
The photograph is from that year and is original.
HP619

Paul VI
1897 - 1978
Pope

Born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , Paul VI reigned as Pope of the
Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 1963 to 1978. He brought the
Second Vatican Council, begun by his predecessor John XXIII, to completion in 1965,
and directed the implementation of its mandates. He may be best know for his
papal encyclical Humanae Vitae (On the Regulation of Birth) which reaffirmed the
Church's official condemnation of artificial birth control.

This photograph was released in 1964 and taken during the Second Vatican Council
in Rome. It is an 8 x 10 glossy from the Religious News Service, with its stamp on the back.
The photo is original.
HP620

Eleanor Roosevelt
1884 - 1962
First Lady of the U.S.A.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was an American political leader who leveraged her stature as the
First Lady of the United States to promote the New Deal for her husband,
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She was extremely activistic and instrumental
in early civil rights issues, both for women and blacks. She survived her husband
by nearly 20 years, and was declared, by Gallup Polls, to be the
ninth most admired person of the 20th century.

This photograph is an 8 x10 inch news photo released not long before her death in 1962.
Her companion in the photo is not identified. It is original.
HP621

Rajiv Gandhi
1944 - 1991
Sonia Gandhi
1946 -
Prime Minister and First Lady of India, 1984 - 1989

Shri Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India from 1984 until 1989, named to that post
after his mother, Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister of India, was assassinated.
(Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharal Nehru.) Two years after Rajiv
left office he himself was assassinated. His Italian wife, Sonia, was tapped for the post
but declined. Presently Sonia Gandhi is President of the Indian International Congress.
In 2004 she was named by Forbes the 3rd most powerful woman in the world
and in 2007 and 2008 named by TIME as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

This photograph, sized 8 1/2 x 5 3/4 inches is a news photo released on October 2, 1989.
It depicts Prime Minister and First Lady Gandhi as they pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi on the
120th anniversary of his birth at Rajghat in Delhi, India, the site of Gandhi's cremation.
The photo is by C. M. Vinayagam. It is original.
HP633

Paul Tillich
1886- 1965
Theologian

Paul Johannes Tillich was a German-American theologian and existentialist philosopher.
After being barred by Hitler from teaching in Germany, Tillich immigrated to the U.S. in 1940,
teaching at Union Theological Seminary, Harvard, and finally the University of Chicago.
Among the many books published, including his 3 volume Systematic Theology,
was The Courage to Be published in 1954. Tillich was one of the more influential
Protestant theologians of the twentieth century.

This photograph is a 5 x 7 inch news photo released in the early 1960s, probably
while he was at the University of Chicago. It is an original print.
HP622

Harry S. Truman
1884 - 1972

Truman was the thirty-third President of the United States, serving two terms from
1945 to 1953, succeeding Franklin Delano Roosevelt upon his death.
During his presidency the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United Nations was formed, NATO was created, the Marshall Plan
was put in place, and the Cold War began as did the Korean War.

This photograph is a presidential portrait released during his tenure, probably near its end.
It is an 8 x 10 photo possessing only editor's marks on the back. It is original.
HP623

John Updike
1932 - 2009
Writer

Updike is an American novelist, poet and short story writer whose output since his first
published work in 1958 (a book of poetry entitled The Carpentered Hen) has
been astounding. His best known pieces are his Rabbit Novels, one published
each decade for 5 decades (Rabbit , Run in 1960, Rabbit, Redux in 1971, Rabbit is Rich in 1981,
Rabbit at Rest in 1990 and Rabbit Remembered in 2001). Nearly 60 published works total
comprise the repertoire of this prodigious and important writer.
Updike has won two Pulitzer Prizes for fiction, one of only three to do so.

This photograph is a 5 x 7 inch glossy publicity photo by photographer Ivan Massar.
released in the early 1960s. It is original.
HP624

Wernher Von Braun
1912 - 1977
Scientist / Space Pioneer

This news photo, issued in 1958, has the following copy printed into the
bottom portion of the image:

"WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 -- HAPPY SCIENTIST -- Dr. Wernher von Braun, chief of the
army ballistic missile agency's development operations, grins today as he holds a globe
marked with one path of the baby moon put into orbit last night.
Von Braun did much of the development work on the Jupiter-C rocket
which carried the first U.S. satellite into the heavens. The German-born scientist
said a second Jupiter-C will be fired between now and April to place
another satellite in orbit. (AP Wirephoto) 1958"

The photo is 8 x 10 inches; the image is 6 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches. Several editor's crop marks
in grease pencil remain; the back contains no significant markings.
The slight yellowing visible in the center of the image is usually from insufficient chemical fixing
in the processing; wirephotos were always about speed. It is and original photograph.
HP625

Charles Schultz
1922 - 2000
Cartoonist

Schultz is a twentieth century American cartoonist, creator of the Peanuts comic strip.
After an evolution of characters and comic scenarios, Peanuts made its debut in 1950.
Peanuts ran for nearly 50 years without interruption and had appeared in over
2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. Schultz is responsible for some of the most beloved
characters in American pop/folk culture.

This photo is a 5 x 7 inch original print from the very early 1960s.
It has a stamp crediting Gerald Giving of St. Paul, Minnesota as the photographer.
HP626

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
1905 - 1945
Anti-Nazi Theologian

A German clergyman / theologian, Bonhoeffer was a practitioner of Gandhian non-violence.
In response to Hitler's atrocities during World War II, however, Bonhoeffer became
a public activist against Nazism and eventually was involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler.
He was arrested, jailed and finally hanged in 1945, just two weeks before the end of the war.
Bonhoeffer has taken on an heroic aura in addressing the issue
of non-violence in the face of horrific evil.

This photograph was taken in the yard of Tegel Prison in 1944 where Bonhoeffer was interred
for 1 1/2 years before being transferred to Buchenwald then to Flossenberg where he was executed.
It is from the files of The Morning Call in Allenstown, PA where it was used to announce
a documentary on Bonhoeffer in June of 1985. The 5 x 8 inch photo is an original
print; the notations on the verso identify it.
HP634

Conrad Richter
1890 - 1968
Writer

An American writer who won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1951 for The Town,
the third installment in the Awakening Land trilogy, Richter also won a
National Book Award for his autobiographical novel, The Waters of Kronos.

This photograph is by the famous photographer Elliot Erwitt and is stamped with Erwitt's name stamp
on the reverse, with Richter's name in pen written above the stamp, probably by Erwitt.
It is not a typical news photo but rather a portrait printed to 5 x 7 inches on double weight portrait paper.
It was released in connection with the publishing of The Town in 1950
and probably done around that time. The photo is an original print.
HP627

Karl Barth
1886 - 1968
Theologian

An influential Swiss Reformed Christian theologian, Barth was instrumental
in the Church's stance against Hitler's ideology and person, and was responsible
for The Barmen Declaration formally opposing Hitler. His opus was a 14 volume
Church Dogmatics, regarded as one of the most important theological works of all time.

This photo is a 5 x 5 glossy print issued by the Religious News Service, and the back note reads:
"GENEVA -- This is the latest photo of Dr. Karl Barth, internationally known Swiss theologian.
Photo was taken in Zurich." There is no date, but comes from the late 1950s.
HP628

Martin Buber
1878 - 1965
Philosopher

Buber was an Austrian Jewish philosopher whose work centered in religious existentialism
and Jewish thought, eventually becoming very influential in the reshaping of Zionism
and Jewish ideology. His most famous work was the volume on existentialism,
I and Thou, published in 1923 and still voraciously read. Conflicts with Hitler in the
mid 1930s caused him to leave Austria and settle in Jerusalem
from which he worked for the rest of his life.

This photo is an original photo from the mid to late 1950s. It is an 8 x 10 photograph issued by the
Religious News Service with its stamp on the back, and no other specific identifying marks.
HP629

Jan Christiaan Smuts
1870 - 1950
Prime Minister of South Africa

Smuts, a central figure in the movement to end apartheid in South Africa, was twice the
Prime Minister of that country, from 1919 - 1924 and again from 1939 - 1948.
He was also instrumental in the development of the League of Nations (1919)
and finally in the formation of the United Nations (1945).

This caption note attached to the back of this photo reads,
"CAPETOWN SOUTH AFRICA -- Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, 76- year-old premier
of South Africa, slices an apple as he rests after climbing 4,000-foot
Table Mountain. Britian's royal family made the ascent by cable car.
CREDIT (ACME PHOTO BY SYDNEY GAIGER) 4-29-47"

This photo is an 8 x 10 original print, taken in 1947,
as the original note, shown above, indicates.
HP630

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