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The Living Insignia materials form a
small but significant part of the E. O. Goldbeck Collection. Born in 1892,
Eugene O. Goldbeck was a commercial photographer whose career spanned the
better part of the twentieth century. San Antonio, Texas, was both his hometown
and the headquarters of his business, which he eventually called the National
Photo and News Service. In addition to photographing important events and
scenes both locally and around the world, he specialized in large scale group
portraits, often of military units. Among his military photographs, the Living
Insignia projects are of particular interest. The soldiers of a selected
division were posed so as to form a representation of the division's insignia
when seen from the vantage point of a tower built for the occasion. Careful
planning and preparation went into the production of each image. |
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The
materials are arranged chronologically by the date on which the insignia
formations were photographed. There are 11 different insignias represented in
the collection, ranging in time from 1925 to 1947. The groups involved in
creating these images ranged in size from 1,300 soldiers at Kelly Field to
almost 22,000 at Lackland Air Force Base. The participating units were
stationed in Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, New York, and Hawaii, among other
places. In general, the materials include plans in pencil and/or ink,
blueprints, glass, safety and nitrate negatives, and both vintage gelatin
silver and modern prints, although the types of materials present for each
insignia vary. For example, the Hawaiian Division Living Insignia of 1926 is
represented by everything from preliminary plans to negatives and prints (the
Hawaiian Division also has two entries--one for 1926 and one for 1932.). On the
other hand, the collection contains only a plan and two maps relating to the
1st Cavalry Division of 1940. The nitrate negatives are in either banquet or
panoramic format. While there are prints of some of the banquet negatives,
prints of the panoramic negatives are not available. Prints are vintage unless
noted otherwise. |
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For two of the insignias, the 2nd Division of 1925 and
the 35th Infantry Regiment of 1933, the copyright is shown as belonging to
someone other than Goldbeck. |
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The following are abbreviations used in the
finding aid:
- LI=living insignia
- NV=nitrate vault
- OV=oversize
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For more information on E.O. Goldbeck, two books are
available: |
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Burleson, Clyde W. and E. Jessica Hickman.
The Panoramic Photography of Eugene O.
Goldbeck. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, 1986. (TR 661 B87
1986 HRC-P) |
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Davenport, Marguerite.
The Unpretentious Pose: The Work of E.O. Goldbeck,
a People's Photographer. San Antonio, Tex.: Trinity University Press,
1981. (TR 140 G64 D28 HRC-P) |
