Descriptive Summary
Scope and Contents of the Collection
Organization and Arrangement
Separated Materials
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Hubert A. Lowman Photographic Archive
Dates: 1941-2006 and undated
Collection number: H.Mss.1113
Creator:
Lowman, Hubert A.
Extent:
79.5 Linear Feet
(39 records boxes, 8 document boxes, 6 oversize document boxes, 2 flat boxes,
7 telescoping roll storage boxes, 1 map folder)
Repository:
Claremont Colleges. Library. Special Collections, The Claremont
Colleges Library, Claremont, CA 91711.
Abstract: The Hubert A. Lowman Photographic Archive
consists of photographic materials, papers, books, magazines, printed matter, business archives, and other
property representing the body of work of Hubert A. Lowman, photographer and publisher, and the Lowman Publishing
Company. The Archive spans nearly 70 years and provides insight into the business and subject matter of a commercial
photographer. The bulk of the Archive focuses on the American West (primarily California and Arizona) and supports
research into the historical depiction of their locations. Over his photographic career, Lowman’s clients included
Union Oil Company, American Airlines, the California Mission Trails Association (CMTA), Disneyland, Los Angeles City
Schools,
Arizona Highways magazine, regional postcard distributors from California to Mississippi,
and the concessionaires of national parks including Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Grand Canyon, and
Yellowstone.
Physical Location: Please consult repository.
Language of Material: Languages represented in the collection: English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection open for research.
Publication Rights
All requests for permission to reproduce or to publish must be submitted in writing to
Special Collections.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Hubert A. Lowman Photographic Archive (H.Mss.1113). Special Collections and Archives,
The Claremont Colleges Library, The Claremont Colleges Services, Claremont, CA.
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Gift of Robert P. Lowman, March 2018.
Accruals
No additions to the collection are anticipated.
Processing Information
Processed by Sean Stanley, Digital and Print Collections Archivist, Special Collections, The Claremont
Colleges Library. All photographic materials were placed into archival sleeves according to size and format
to ensure safe handling. All sleeved photographic materials and non-photographic materials were placed into
acid-free file folders and housed in archival boxes. Materials originating from a single box or envelope were
kept together in file folders and labeled indicating their relationship to the original housing. Photographic
materials were labeled with location and/or subject matter with dates, where available. Labels or captions
accompanying color transparencies were photocopied onto acid-free paper and stored with transparencies. Mounted
color transparencies were removed from cardboard mounts, with annotations photocopied onto acid-free paper and
stored together with the transparencies in archival envelopes. Where possible, oversize materials were stored
flat in oversize archival boxes or added to large folders and stored in map case drawers. Oversize materials
too large to be stored flat were rolled and placed in telescoping rolled storage boxes.
Biography / Administrative History
Hubert A. Lowman was born on April 15, 1913, in Clay County, Missouri to Edward Lowman and Stacia Inez Potts.
His father Edward was born in 1871 in Nebraska and grew up in Dickinson County, Kansas where his childhood was
marked with experiences of frontier life. Edward shared his memories of growing up in the "wild west" with young
Hubert, instilling his son with a lifelong fascination of the American West.
Hubert Lowman was raised in Kansas City, Missouri, where he graduated as valedictorian of East High School in
1930. Following graduation, Lowman found work as an advertising artist for a company that published yellow pages
for the phone company, and he continued to work as a commercial artist until the outbreak of World War II.
During his childhood, Lowman befriended a neighborhood boy a few years his senior named Ray Atkeson. Atkeson
had left Kansas City and moved to Oregon where he began working as a scenic photographer of the Pacific
Northwest. After seeing one of Atkeson's picture spreads featured in The Kansas City Star, Lowman became
inspired to take up photography. Purchasing a second-hand Graflex camera, Lowman began pursuing his newfound
hobby and wrote to Atkeson for advice as a novice photographer (Lowman 1998, 3). The two would maintain
correspondence throughout their lives, forming a lifelong friendship.
Throughout the 1930s, Lowman's interest in photography grew and he would spend his annual two-week vacation
taking pictures in various locations throughout the Western United States. Lowman married Martha Guynn Howard
on November 19, 1939, and following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the two moved to South Gate, California where
he found work in the shipyards in nearby Wilmington. Helping to build Liberty cargo ships, Lowman explained
that he was hired "for the sole reason I could read blueprints," and remained in defense work for the duration
of the war (Lowman 1998, 3).
Following the war, Lowman embarked on a career as a freelance scenic photographer and had early success selling
his photographs to periodicals such as Arizona Highways and Desert magazines. As he established himself in the
profession, Lowman steadily developed a base of customers and began accepting contracts of customer-directed
photo assignments. Over the years, his clients included Union Oil Company, Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, and
the concessionaires of national parks including Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Glacier, Lassen Volcanic, Sequoia
and Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks. While his clients would often use his photographs for promotional
postcards, Lowman consistently sold photographs to companies like Smith News in San Francisco and American Airlines
for advertisements and travel posters. His photographs were also featured in a series of California State textbooks
written by Helen Bauer: Good Times at Home, Good Times at the Park, Good Times at the Circus, California Mission
Days, and California Rancho Days.
An early subject of Lowman's photographs were the 21 historic Spanish missions in California. In the late 1940s,
Lowman entered a business partnership with the California Mission Trails Association (CMTA) to help encourage
tourism to the missions and obtained the right to use its name on a series of postcards to be sold in the mission
gift shops. In 1950, the CMTA published the book California's Missions, however had limited success distributing
them. With approximately 10,000 books remaining unsold by 1957, the CMTA offered the books to Lowman, who in
return for paying off the outstanding balance to the printer, received possession of the existing books and the
rights to future copies and editions. Lowman added the books to his line of postcards, successfully selling them
to the gift shops at the missions. This marked a transition for Lowman who moved away from being solely a
photographer to a businessperson who published his own photographic works. During his partnership with the CMTA,
Lowman was the photographer of more than 2,000 postcards and published a half-dozen books about the Spanish missions
in California, all featuring his photography. The original California's Missions book went through more than 20
printings and sold approximately 250,000 copies over more than 50 years before it was taken out of print.
In the late 1950s, Lowman partnered with the curriculum department of the Los Angeles City Schools to create
full-color study prints for classroom use. Initial study prints focused on the history of Los Angeles and the
Spanish missions in California with other sets soon following, including Colonial Williamsburg, Wildlife
Conservation, and the Alaskan Frontier. The study prints became popular amongst elementary schools and provided
Lowman with his primary source of income for the next decade.
For most of his career, Lowman operated his business under the name "Hubert A. Lowman, Photographer-Publisher"
with his wife Martha joining him as a partner in the 1970s. Following Martha's death in 1992, Lowman brought his
eldest son Edward into the business, who helped conceive the "Lowman Publishing Company" name which endures today.
Edward passed away on January 23, 2004, and younger son Robert and his wife Kathleen operated the business until
Hubert's death in December 2006 at the age of 93. Ownership of the Lowman Publishing Company has been passed to
Robert Lowman and it continues as a successful company today.
Source:
Lowman, Hubert A. 1998.
50 Years of Photographing the West, Including All 21 California Missions. Edited by
Edward A Lowman. Arroyo Grande, CA: Hubert A. Lowman.
Scope and Contents of the Collection
The Hubert A. Lowman Photographic Archive consists of photographic materials, papers, books, magazines, printed matter,
business archives, and other property representing the body of work of Hubert A. Lowman, photographer and publisher,
and the Lowman Publishing Company. The collection's first series includes the business papers of the Lowman Publishing
Company featuring correspondence, purchase orders, client lists, and other ancillary materials related to the company.
Artwork and draft materials for various publications produced by the Lowman Publishing Company are also included. The
second series, and bulk of the collection, are Lowman's photographic materials created for commercial and personal use.
The series is organized into several subseries by format and includes color and black and white photographic prints
and negatives, as well as color slides and transparencies. The photographic materials primarily showcase the
Southwestern United States, California Missions, and U.S. National Parks, while also highlighting the Lowman family and
other locations throughout the United States. Photographs and materials used for commercial purposes were primarily
produced between 1946 to 1966. Photographs after 1973 were primarily taken for Lowman's personal use and tend to be
scenic/travel images or family photographs. The collection's third and final series features publications, books,
magazines, calendars, postcards, advertisements, murals, stickers, and other ephemeral items created by the Lowman
Publishing Company or featuring photographs taken by Hubert Lowman. Nine full sets of educational study prints created
for the Los Angeles City School District are also included, in addition to large souvenir posters and uncut printer's
sheets of study prints and postcards. This series includes a full-run of
Arizona Highways
magazine from 1946-1966.
Organization and Arrangement
This collection has been organized into the following series and subseries:
- Series 1: Lowman Publishing Company, 1945-2003 and undated
- Series 2: Photographic materials, 1944-2006 and undated
- Suberies 2.1: Black and white negatives, 1962 and undated
- Subseries 2.2: Black and white prints, 1944-1963 and undated
- Subseries 2.3: Color prints and negatives, 1966-2006 and undated
- Subseries 2.4: Color slides, 1953-1998 and undated
- Subseries 2.5: Color transparencies, 1958-1971 and undated
- Subseries 2.6: Film, undated
- Series 3: Printed matter, 1941-2001 and undated
File folders are arranged alphabetically by title. Contents within files are typically arranged in
chronological order.
Separated Materials
Book and periodical items stored separately from the archival materials can be found in Library Search by
using the Uniform Title, "Hubert A. Lowman Photographic Archive" or by copying and pasting the following into
the search box: "ut:Hubert A. Lowman Photographic Archive".
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library’s online public access catalog.
Subject Terms
Commercial photography
Lowman, Hubert A.
Missions, Spanish -- California
National parks and reserves -- United States
Photography
Travel
Travel photography
West (U.S.)
Genre and Form of Materials
Brochures
Calendars
Correspondence
Magazines
Maps
Pamphlets
Periodicals
Photographs
Photography--Negatives
Postcards
Posters
Slides (Photography)
Teaching--Aids and devices
Travel guidebooks – 20th century