Preliminary Guide to the Thomas K. Tindale Japanese Papermaking Photographs

Title: Thomas K. Tindale Japanese Papermaking Photographs

Date (inclusive): ca. 1948-1951

Collection number: Printers Mss 45

Creator: Tindale, Thomas K.

Extent: .3 linear ft. (1 oversize box)

Repository: University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections

Physical location: Del Sur

Language of Material: Collection materials in English

None.

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

Thomas K. Tindale Japanese Papermaking Photographs. Printers Mss 45. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Purchase, 2004.

The collection consists of an album with 113 black/white photographs taken by Francis Haar of Kamakura for Tindale, all stamped by Haar on the verso. This album was the result of Tindale's fascination with Japanese papermaking and paper makers. He arrived in Japan just after World War II as an assistant to the Japanese government civil service. Papermaking was his passion, and he soon began to connect with the leading exponents of the dying art.

The first photo shows Tindale in the center and at the far left is Haar as the villagers pose with them.

The second photo is again a commemorative picture of the villagers, along with photos of village elders and the celebrated papermaker Jugaku Bunsho. Others show village scenes, villagers working at various tasks and the beginning of the papermaking process itself. This process shows villagers gathering the kozo plants to remove the bark and fiber area and boiling the fibers and other related tasks. Additional photos illustrate the method of processing the fibers: pounding, washing, sorting, straining, boiling, beating into pulp; rinsing, squeezing, and finally placing them into a vat of liquid for further processing on bamboo screens. When dried, they are trimmed, bundled, tied, and hauled down to the river for transport to the paper seller.

There are also are two postcards, in Japanese, addressed to Thomas Keith Tindale, from Nishikubo Kenzan in Niigata prefecture. The first dated Nov. 9, 1951, reads: " Professor Jugaku Bunsho asks Nishikubo to send paper samples to Tindale". The second, dated Nov. 14, 1951, again from Nishibuko, states that today he sent 80 paper samples to Tindale. It would appear that Tindale had already begun to collect hand-made papers for his book project. The result of this project was the publication of Tindale's book on the subject, The Hand-Made Papers of Japan, a work with hundreds of fine samples, watermarks and text with photos on the technique of papermaking, issued in a limited edition of 150 copies. The originals for those photographs are the contents of this album.

UCSB Special Collections also has a number of books on Japanese papermaking, including:



Timothy Barrett, Japanese Papermaking: Traditions, Tools, and Techniques (1983)



Sidney E. Berger, Handmade Papers of Japan (2001)



Claire Bolton, Awa Gami: Japanese Handmade Papers… (1991)



Richard Flavin, Japanese Traditional Papermaking (1983)



Yasuo Kume, Superior Collection of Hand-made Papers in Japan (1979)



Henry Morris, Japonica: The Study and Appreciation of the Art of Japanese Paper (1981)



Kiyofusa Narita, Japanese Paper-making (1954)



See also:



Japanese Paper Samples [collected by Thomas K. Tindale] (1950)



These and other volumes have been cataloged separately and can be searched on Pegasus, the UCSB Libraries online catalog.