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Lodewyk Bendikson Papers: Finding Aid
HIA 38.5  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Overview of the Collection
  • Access
  • Administrative Information
  • Related Materials in the Huntington Library
  • Biographical Note
  • Scope and Content
  • Arrangement
  • Indexing Terms

  • Overview of the Collection

    Title: Lodewyk Bendikson Papers
    Dates (inclusive): 1921-1950
    Bulk dates: 1931-1942
    Collection Number: HIA 38.5
    Creator: Bendikson, L. (Lodewyk), 1878-
    Extent: 2,020 items in 12 boxes
    Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department
    1151 Oxford Road
    San Marino, California 91108
    Phone: (626) 405-2129
    Email: reference@huntington.org
    URL: http://www.huntington.org
    Abstract: This collection contains photographs, correspondence, and articles of Dr. Lodewyk Bendikson (1875-1953), director of the Department of Photographic Reproductions at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, chronicling the experimental work he did in imaging as well as the day-to-day work of the department. The photographs include experimental and institutional prints, negatives, and lantern slides.
    Language: English, with some material in German and Dutch.

    Access

    Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
    The negatives in Boxes 11-12 have been placed in cold storage for preservation. Arrangements for viewing negatives must be made in advance.

    Administrative Information

    Publication Rights

    The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item]. Lodewyk Bendikson Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

    Provenance

    Chiefly received from Carey Bliss, Huntington Library Curator of Rare Books, September 25, 1978.

    Related Materials in the Huntington Library

    Biographical Note

    Dr. Lodewyk Bendikson (1875-1953) was born in 1875 in Amsterdam. He received his early training at The Hague and was originally destined for a military career, but was unable to pass the required eye exams at the age of 12. He subsequently spent six years at Latin High School (Gymnasium) at Amsterdam and then entered medical school at the University of Amsterdam in 1893, where he graduated with his M.D. in 1901.
    Dr. Bendikson first visited the U.S. to do post graduate work at New York University and Bellevue Hospital Medical College, and went on to work from 1903-06 as a clinical assistant at Bellevue. In 1906 he returned to Holland and worked for a time at the City of Amsterdam Hospital, then returned to the U.S. and established a permanent residence in 1909. However, owing to frequent visits to Europe he did not qualify for U.S. citizenship until 1923.
    In 1910, Dr. Bendikson joined the staff of the New York Public Library through Dr. John Shaw Billings, a former surgeon general of the U.S.A. and the person responsible for the consolidation of the New York Public Library. (He and Dr. Bendikson had come into contact at the New York Academy of Medicine). After six years with the New York Public Library, Dr. Bendikson joined the Huntington Library staff in February of 1916.
    Dr. Bendikson was one of the first men to join the staff of the Huntington Library in New York, and was instrumental in the move of the library from New York to San Marino. He worked for the Huntington Library for 27 years, during which time he contributed significantly to reproduction techniques and photographic imaging. Some of his breakthroughs included the use of color filters to make the Huntington’s ink stained Benjamin Franklin autobiography manuscript legible, infra-red imaging to illuminate passages obliterated by Spanish Inquisition censors, use of ultra-violet radiation to reveal invisible ink secret writing in Revolutionary era letters from Silas Deane to John Jay, and microphotography methods to help distinguish real texts from facsimiles. Also thanks to Dr. Bendikson’s experimenting, photostat reproductions from the Huntington were known to be of the best quality, both in terms of image clarity and resistance to fading. He also demonstrated that the fears of the time that microphotographic film would rapidly deteriorate were unfounded. In some cases he was able to adapt existing equipment for his experiments, like his favored Leitz Ultrapak/Ultropak microscope, or the way he used his Leica camera in conjunction with a photostat mounting apparatus for ease of imaging. When he found ultra-violet light sources unsatisfactory for his work, however, he created a new highly successful yet cost-effective type of ultra-violet light source for documentary photography.
    Dr. Bendikson lived in Pasadena, California. He retired from his post as the director of the Department of Photographic Reproductions in 1943, and died on May 27, 1953.

    Scope and Content

    The papers of Dr. Lodewyk Bendikson span his career at the Huntington Library and the period shortly thereafter, chronicling the experimental work he did in imaging as well as the day-to-day work of the photographic department of the Huntington. The collection is divided into the following series: Correspondence (Boxes 1-3), Articles (Box 3), and Photographs (Boxes 4-12). All material is arranged chronologically wherever possible.
    The Correspondence series contains letters mostly to and from Bendikson arranged by year, but other relevant departmental correspondence is present as well (including letters to and from Erwin Morkisch and other staffers). The bulk of the series concerns departmental business, including purchase orders and requests for imaging, photostats, and microfilm, while the rest primarily deals with his experimental work.
    The Articles series is comprised of both typed and written Bendikson manuscripts, as well as the resulting published materials.
    Photographs include experimental and institutional prints, negatives, and lantern slides. Institutional photographs consist primarily of lantern slides showcasing the treasures of the Huntington, but also include prints and negatives for work done for manuscripts department chair Capt. R.B. Haselden and other miscellany. The experimental photographs include prints, slides, and negatives of the various projects Bendikson undertook in the areas of reproduction technique and photographic imaging. Bendikson’s original labeling from envelopes and negative boxes has been preserved on sleeves whenever possible. Prints, glass negatives, and lantern slides are housed with the collection, while 181 nitrate negatives (Boxes 11-12) are housed separately in cold storage.

    Arrangement

    Organized into the following series: Correspondence (Boxes 1-3), Articles (Box 3), and Photographs (Boxes 4-12) Arranged chronologically whenever possible.

    Indexing Terms

    The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Huntington Library's Online Catalog.  

    Subjects

    Bendikson, L. (Lodewyk), 1878-.
    Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.
    Books -- Reproduction.
    Infrared photography.
    Infrared radiation.
    Microphotography.
    Manuscripts -- Conservation and restoration.
    Palimpsests.
    Photocopying.
    Photography, Ultraviolet.
    Ultraviolet radiation.

    Forms/Genres

    Articles.
    Lantern slides.
    Letters (correspondence).
    Manuscripts.
    Negatives (photographic).
    Photographs.
    Professional papers.