Biographical note
Scope and Contents
Organization
Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Preferred Citation
Acquisition
Related Materials
Processing Information
General
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Wayne Thom Photographer negatives, photographs, and other material
creator:
Thom, Wayne, 1933-
Identifier/Call Number: 6105
Physical Description:
186.81 Linear Feet
296 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1968-2015
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.
Biographical note
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.
Scope and Contents
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.
Organization
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.
Conditions Governing Access
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).
Conditions Governing Use
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
Acquisition
Purchased from Wayne Thom, in 2015.
Related Materials
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
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.
General
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
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
Thom, Wayne, 1933- -- Archives
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
Gonzales, Bennie M. -- 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
Munselle, Peter -- Archives
Peterson Associates (Firm) -- Archives
POD Landscape Architects -- Archives
Robert Frankeberger and Associates -- Archives
Ruhnau Ruhnau Clarke (Firm) -- Archives
Schmandt, Chuck -- Archives
Schmandt and Lenvik (Firm) -- Archives
Siodmak & Wild (Firm) -- Archives
Skidmore Owings & Merrill -- Archives
Steven and Zellmar (Firm) -- Archives
Studio B (Firm) -- Archives
Stuhr and Hicks (Firm) -- Archives
Thodos, John -- 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