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Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2007
Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms007030
Latest revision: 2008 May
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.
The papers of John Vachon, photographer, were transferred from the Prints and Photographs Division to the Manuscript Division in 2005.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of John Vachon is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
Restrictions apply governing the use, photoduplication, or publication of items in this collection. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division concerning these restrictions.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, John Vachon Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Date | Event |
| 1914, May 19 | Born, St. Paul, Minn. |
| 1934 | B.A., St. Thomas College, St. Paul, Minn. |
| 1936-1937 | Assistant messenger, Farm Security Administration, Washington, D.C. |
| 1937-1940 | Junior file clerk and unofficial photographer, Farm Security Administration, Washington, D.C. |
| ca. 1938 | Married Millicent (“Penny”) Leeper (died 1960) |
| 1940-1942 | Junior photographer, Farm Security Administration, Washington, D.C. |
| 1942-1943 | Photographer, Office of War Information, Washington, D.C. |
| 1943-1944 | Photographer, Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey |
| 1945 | Served in United States Army |
| 1945-1947 | Photographer in New Jersey and Venezuela for Jersey Standard |
| 1946 | Photographic assignment, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, Poland |
| 1947-1949 | Staff photographer, Life magazine, New York, N.Y. |
| 1947-1971 | Staff photographer, Look magazine, New York, N.Y. |
| 1961 | Married Françoise Fourestier |
| 1971-1975 | Freelance photographer, New York, N.Y. |
| 1975 | Visiting lecturer in photography, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minn. |
| 1975, Apr. 20 | Died, New York, N.Y. |
The papers of John Felix Vachon (1914-1975) span the years 1913-1995, with the bulk from 1935 to 1959, and consist of family papers, general correspondence, lecture notes, writings, financial papers, notes, clippings, and printed matter. The focus of the papers is Vachon’s career as a photographer. The collection is arranged in three groups: family papers, general correspondence, and subject file.
The family papers consist chiefly of Vachon’s letters to his mother, Ann O’Hara Vachon, and his first wife, Millicent “Penny” Vachon. These letters provide descriptions of many of Vachon’s assignments as photographer chiefly for the Farm Security Administration (FSA), 1937-1942, the Office of War Information (OWI), 1942-1943, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, 1943-1944, and Look magazine, 1947-1959. They document his extensive travels across America for FSA and OWI, focusing on rural areas and small towns during the Depression and the country’s mobilization during World War II. The family correspondence reflects the variety of Vachon’s assignments, including politics, religion, poverty, and stories about entertainers and writers such as Marilyn Monroe and Tennessee Williams. Also in the family papers are letters chronicling his student days at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., 1935-1936; descriptions of living in Washington from 1935 to 1939; detailed accounts of his training and duties while in the United States Army at Camp Blanding, Florida, 1945; and his work for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in Poland, 1946. The correspondence conveys his passion for jazz music and movies and includes his observations about American social life and mores. The family papers also contain genealogical material relating to the Vachon family.
The subject file reflects Vachon’s lifelong desire to be a writer and consists chiefly of his articles, essays, short stories, and poetry. Also located in this file is a transcript of a conversation in 1952 between Roy Emerson Stryker, the director of the FSA project, and FSA photographers, including Dorothea Lange, Arthur Rothstein, and Vachon, discussing their work.
The Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress has custody of John Vachon’s photographic collection of prints and negatives. His work is also represented in that division’s Farm Security Administration Collection and Look Magazine Photograph Collection.
This collection is arranged alphabetically by type of material.
| Container | Contents | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOX 1 | Family papers | ||||||||||||
| BOX 1 | Correspondence | ||||||||||||
| BOX 1 | Originals | ||||||||||||
| BOX 1 | Miscellaneous relatives, 1938, n.d. | ||||||||||||
| BOX 1 | Vachon, Ann O’Hara (mother) | ||||||||||||
| BOX 1 | 1935-1938 | ||||||||||||
| (13 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 2 | 1939-1944 | ||||||||||||
| (14 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 3 | 1945-1962 | ||||||||||||
| (14 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 3 | Undated | ||||||||||||
| (4 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 4 | (5 folders) | ||||||||||||
| BOX 4 | Vachon, Henry (father), 1935-1943 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 4 | Vachon, Millicent (“Penny”) (wife) See also Containers 9-10, Transcripts | ||||||||||||
| BOX 4 | 1936-1940 | ||||||||||||
| (12 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 4 | 1941 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 4 | Jan.-June | ||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 5 | July-Aug. | ||||||||||||
| (3 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 5 | 1942 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 5 | Jan.-Oct. | ||||||||||||
| (14 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 6 | Nov. | ||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 6 | 1943-1945 | ||||||||||||
| (18 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 6 | 1946 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 6 | Jan.-Feb. | ||||||||||||
| (3 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 7 | Mar.-Aug. | ||||||||||||
| (6 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 7 | 1947-1950 | ||||||||||||
| (19 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 8 | 1951-1957 | ||||||||||||
| (19 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 8 | 1958 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 8 | Jan.-Mar. | ||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 9 | Apr.-Dec. | ||||||||||||
| (8 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 9 | 1959 | ||||||||||||
| (7 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 9 | Vachon, Robert (brother), 1935-1945, 1955, n.d. | ||||||||||||
| BOX 9 | Transcripts, Millicent (“Penny”) Vachon See also Containers 4-6, Vachon, Millicent (“Penny”) | ||||||||||||
| BOX 9 | 1940-1941 | ||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 9 | 1942 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 9 | Jan.-Mar. | ||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Apr.-Nov. | ||||||||||||
| (4 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | 1943 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Other papers | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Miscellaneous, 1913-1918, 1944, 1952, 1962, n.d. | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Vachon, Ann O’Hara, 1939-1948, 1954-1959, n.d. | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Vachon, Brian (son), 1979, 1991, n.d. | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | General correspondence, 1936-1937, 1944-1946, 1957, 1965 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Subject file | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Exhibitions of Vachon’s photographs, 1993-1995 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Farm Security Administration, transcript of conversation with Roy Emerson Stryker and photographers, [1952] | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Financial papers, 1937-1938, n.d. | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Lecture notebook, 1974 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Look magazine, 1969 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Miscellany, 1985, n.d. | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Travel notebook, ca. 1974 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Travel notes, 1942 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Writings by others | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | About Vachon, 1943, 1960-1965, 1971, 1979, 1989 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Miscellaneous, 1954-1957 | ||||||||||||
| BOX 11 | Writings by Vachon | ||||||||||||
| BOX 11 | Articles, essays, short stories, and other writings, 1933-1934, 1973, n.d. | ||||||||||||
| (7 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 11 | Correspondence with publishers and readers, 1956-1966, 1972, n.d. | ||||||||||||
| (3 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 11 | Notes and jottings, n.d. Undated | ||||||||||||
| (3 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 12 | (2 folders) | ||||||||||||
| BOX 12 | Poetry, n.d. | ||||||||||||
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