The Paul Outerbridge papers document the American photographer's artistic and professional life from his earliest art studies in 1915 through his varied career as an innovator in advertising photography, a pioneer in color photography, and a freelance writer. The archive includes correspondence, notebooks and diaries, typescripts, drawings and sketches, business records, scrapbooks, a portfolio, autobiographical and biographical statements, and intermittent clippings and ephemera.

American photographer Paul Outerbridge (1896-1958) was born in New York City. He studied anatomy and aesthetics at the Art Students' League of New York from 1915 to 1917 while working as a theatrical designer and illustrator, among other jobs. In 1917 he joined the Canadian Royal Flying Corps. Discharged after a minor crash, Outerbridge enlisted in the United States Army and gained his first photographic experience documenting materials and operations for the army at a lumber camp in Oregon. In 1921 he enrolled at the Clarence H. White School of Photography, New York, where he studied with White and Max Weber. Although he did not complete the program at the White School, Outerbridge demonstrated such proficiency that he was soon invited to teach there. His first published photograph appeared in Vogue in 1922, the same year he became acquainted with Alfred Stieglitz and studied sculpture with Alexander Archipenko.

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