Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Rod Dresser photography archive
- Dates:
- 1980-2000s
- Extent:
- 69 Linear Feet (14 manuscript boxes, 44 flat boxes, 2 card boxes, 7 map folders) and 1.023 gigabyte(s) (4 DVDs)
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[identification of item], Rod Dresser photography archive (M2102). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection consists primarily of photographic materials, including negatives, contact sheets, slides, and prints. Though the majority of these were created by Rod Dresser, a small number of slides contain images of other artists' work. He photographed a variety of subjects, including architecture and buildings, landscapes and the natural world, objects and still lifes, and people both in studio and outdoors.
There is also a small series containing other media such as optical discs, film reels, business cards, printed notes, a book, and a news clipping.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Roderick Arthur Dresser (1933-2011) was a photographer in California's Monterey Peninsula area. He worked in the United States Navy for many years, before retiring to run his family's construction business. He later began to dedicate himself to photography full-time, starting with a job as Ansel Adams's special photographic assistant in 1981, remaining active in the studio for most of that decade. After the latter's death, he worked as the business manager for the Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust and then went on to teach workshops and give lectures around the United States. Dresser considered Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Brett Weston, Paul Strand, and Harry Callahan to be major influences in his work. His early work had a major focus on the California landscapes, with increasingly abstract interpretations approaching minimalism. He published a limited-edition monogram, Artist's Choice, in 2000. -- adapted from donor description
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Maggi Weston, 2015.
- Arrangement:
-
Many of the prints arrived in labeled boxes, which have been transcribed as titles here. These were mostly organized by subject (eg. Dunes, Sunrise, Trees). Prints in unlabeled boxes have been organized into similar categories.
Negatives were generally ordered alphabetically by location or subject (in the case of people). Some were in binders, the orders for which have been preserved. The rest has been sorted alphabetically.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2022-11-29 17:02:48 -0800 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research, with exception of digital materials, which are closed until processed. Materials must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.
- Terms of access:
-
© Stanford University. All Rights Reserved.
- Preferred citation:
-
[identification of item], Rod Dresser photography archive (M2102). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
- Location of this collection:
-
Department of Special Collections, Green Library557 Escondido MallStanford, CA 94305-6004, US
- Contact:
- (650) 725-1022