Wayne Thom Photographer negatives, photographs, and other material, 1968-2015

Summary

Creators:

Thom, Wayne, 1933-

Abstract:

The Wayne Thom Photographer negatives, photographs, and other material contains the record of Wayne Thom's prolific career as an architectural photographer and graphic designer. The bulk of the collection consists of Thom's professional photographic work, beginning with his earliest work from 1968 and extending until his retirement in 2012. Thom was born in Shanghai in 1933, and grew up in Hong Kong and Vancouver. He breifly studied photography at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, ultimately graduating from Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara in 1968. His work, which spans over 5 decades, documents modern architecture throughout the western United States and the Pacific Rim, with the bulk of his work documenting the greater Los Angeles area.

Extent:

186.81 Linear Feet 296 boxes

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder no. or item name], Wayne Thom Photographer negatives, photographs, and other material, Collection no. 6105, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Background

Scope and content:

The Wayne Thom Photographer negatives, photographs, and other material contains the record of Wayne Thom's prolific career as an architectural photographer and graphic designer. The bulk of the collection consists of Thom's professional photographic work, beginning with his earliest work from 1968 and extending until his retirement in 2012. Also included in the project work are non-architectural projects, such as portraits and landscape, and included are records of his graphic design work, which primarily consisted of office stationery and publicity brochures for architectural firms, for many of which he also did photographic work. The collection also contains, in Thom's office files, certificates and awards of achievement, publications in which Thom's work appeared, his planners and diaries, and his original client list and project index.

Biographical / historical:

Wayne Thom was born in Shanghai in 1933, and grew up in Hong Kong and Vancouver. He briefly studied photography at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, ultimately graduating from Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara in 1968. His work, which spans over 5 decades, documents modern architecture throughout the Western United States and the Pacific Rim and North America, with the bulk of his work documenting the greater Los Angeles area. Thom is the recipient of many awards and honors, including being named a Fellow of the American Society of Photographers (1980), recipient of the Modern Masters Award of the Los Angeles Conservancy (2015), and life membership in the Professional Photographers of America. He has worked with many of the 20th and 21st centuries' significant modern architects, including A. Quincy Jones (whom Thom considered a mentor), William Pereira, Bennie Gonzales, Arthur Erickson, John Portman, Gio Ponti, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, and Bing Thom.

Acquisition information:

Purchased from Wayne Thom, in 2015.

Processing information:

This inventory was built using Thom's original client index, which he converted into electronic format. This was imported in its entirety. Not all projects were represented in Thom's files, but their entries remain in the inventory, as a record of Thom's business.

Arrangement:

The collection is organized into three series: Project Files, Graphic Design, and Office Files.

Thom occasionally rephotographed a project; these are given the same suffix as the original, with the prefix representing the year in which the project was reshot. For example, Glendale High School was photographed twice, once in 1969 and again in 1970. The project numbers for these two are 6911-0211 and 7006-0211. Since they have the same suffix, they appear adjacent to each other in the finding aid.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Related material:

A. Quincy Jones papers, 1942-1979, Collection no. 1692, UCLA Library Department of Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles

Welton Beckett papers, circa 1929-1969, Collection no. 0000132, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California Santa Barbara

William Pereira and Associates records, Collection 0326, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Arthur Erickson fonds, Reference number AP022, Canadian Center for Architecture

Gin Wong papers, Helen Topping Architecture and Fine Arts Library, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

William Pereira, ed. by James Steele, with a contribution by Ray Walston, including photographs by Julius Shulman and Wayne Thom, Los Angeles: University of Southern California, Architectural Guild Press, 2002

Other descriptive data:

For the projects that were shot entirely in digital format or for which no negatives or prints were found but digital images exist, links to the USC Digital Library are included. For projects that were shot in both analog and digital formats, please use the general link to the Wayne Thom collection in the USC Digital Library to search. Thom digitized select images from early projects; these are also available in the USC Digital Library and can be found by searching the main collection.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Architects -- California -- Los Angeles -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Architectural photography -- Archival resources
Architecture, Modern -- 20th century -- Photographs
Architecture, Modern -- 21st century -- Photographs
Architecture photographers -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
Graphic artists -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
Graphic arts -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
Books
Correspondence
Ephemera
Negatives (photographic)
Photographs
Slides (photographs)
Transparencies
Videotapes

Names:

A. Quincy Jones & Associates -- Archives
Adrian Wilson and Associates -- Archives
Albert C. Martin and Associates -- Archives
Altoon + Porter Architects -- Archives
Architectural Manoeuvres (Firm) -- Archives
Arnet, Mosher & Grant (Firm) -- Archives
Arthur Erickson Associates -- Archives
Biggar, Frapwell, Ghezzi & Cartnal (Firm) -- Archives
Bing Thom Architects -- Archives
Black, Pegiluso, Kikuchi and O'Dowd (Firm) -- Archives
Bluerock Partnership (Firm) -- Archives
Carl A. Worthington and Associates -- Archives
Century Housing (Firm) -- Archives
Daniel Mann Johnson & Mendenhall -- Archives
De Rosa (Firm) -- Archives
Delawie, Macy & Henderson (Firm) -- Archives
Dropping, Kelly and La Marche (Firm) -- Archives
Eastdil Secured (Firm) -- Archives
Eddy and Paynter (Firm) -- Archives
Gin Wong Associates -- Archives
Hall Hurley Deutsch (Firm) -- Archives
Henry Woo Architects -- Archives
Hummel, Hummel, Jones and Shawver (Firm) -- Archives
John Cotton Architects (Firm) -- Archives
Kajima Associates -- Archives
Kruger, Bensen, Ziemer (Firm) -- Archives
Ladd & Kelsey -- Archives
Landau Partnership (Firm) -- Archives
Langdon and Wilson (Firm) -- Archives
Lenvik & Minor Architects -- Archives
Lipkin Warner Design and Planning (Firm) -- Archives
Luckman Partnership (Firm) -- Archives
Maxwell Starkman AIA & Associates -- Archives
Peterson Associates (Firm) -- Archives
POD Landscape Architects -- Archives
Robert Frankeberger and Associates -- Archives
Ruhnau Ruhnau Clarke (Firm) -- Archives
Schmandt and Lenvik (Firm) -- Archives
Siodmak & Wild (Firm) -- Archives
Skidmore Owings & Merrill -- Archives
Stevens and Zellmer (Firm) -- Archives
Studio B (Firm) -- Archives
Stuhr and Hicks (Firm) -- Archives
Thomas and Booziotis (Firm) -- Archives
Thompson Architectural Group -- Archives
Welton Beckett & Associates -- Archives
Whitney Biggar, Architect (Firm) -- Archives
William L. Pereira and Associates -- Archives
WWCOT (Firm) -- Archives
Thom, Wayne, 1933- -- Archives
Gonzales, Bennie M. -- Archives
Munselle, Peter -- Archives
Schmandt, Chuck -- Archives
Thodos, John -- Archives

Restrictions:

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access. The collection consists primarily of negatives that cannot be viewed. The prints in the collection are primarily photographer's (small) proofs. Researchers should begin with the digitized portion of the collection in the USC Digital Library (see link to Digital Material).

Terms of access:

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

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder no. or item name], Wayne Thom Photographer negatives, photographs, and other material, Collection no. 6105, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Location of this collection:

University of Southern California, Special Collections

Special Collections

Doheny Memorial Library, Room 209

Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189, US

Contact:

(213) 740-5900

specol@usc.edu

Website