The Grant M. Haist Collection of Eastman Kodak Working Journals, Black & White Photographs and Negatives, Color Transparencies, and Related Materials (1940s - 1980s)

(Rochester, New York), 1980. Near Fine. A lifelong collection of the photographs and related professional materials of Grant Haist, senior research associate at the Eastman Kodak Company and author of two important technical manuals on photographic processing. A lifelong ‘Kodak man' until his retirement in 1983, Haist was an internationally recognized technical expert and an award-winning photographer known for his western landscapes and nature prints, and scenes of everyday American life. His photographic work appeared in *National Geographic*, *National Wildlife*, *Smithsonian*, and Kodak publications. Fellowships from the Royal Society of Great Britain, the Photographic Society of America, and the Society for Imaging Science and Technology honored his accomplishments.

The collection consists of well over 10,000 (8" x 10") gelatin silver prints, and 100 mounted enlargements, together with Haist's (4" x 5") sheet film negatives; over 600 glass plate negatives; over 700 large and medium format color sheet film transparencies; about 400 (70mm) glass mounted slides; and several thousand 35mm color slides in metal and cardboard mounts. Also included are 11 volumes of Haist's manuscript laboratory journals, together with six additional volumes of manuscript laboratory journals kept by three of his colleagues at Kodak; an early Kodaslide projector together with another projector custom-made by Haist. There are also over 50 medals awarded to Haist by various international salons and camera clubs, including four Graflex awards (Haist favored the 4" x 5" Graflex camera), and six medals from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge: "for outstanding achievement in bringing about a better understanding of the American way of life."

Haist was born in Caro, Michigan in 1922, and graduated from Michigan State University with a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1949. Included in the collection are about 350 personal letters written by him and his future wife Phyllis Keeney, most of which date from when he was in training to become an officer at three U.S. military training camps during the Second World War. In several letters he discusses his interest in photography and his early picture taking. After the war and his graduation from Michigan State, he married Keeney and moved to Rochester, New York, where he worked at the Eastman Kodak Research Laboratories for 32 years, retiring in 1983. He remained active in photography, traveling the world, living in Florida, Arizona, and Michigan. He died in Naples, Florida, in 2015. Over the course of his career Haist held 28 U.S. patents for inventions and innovations made by him at Kodak. He authored many technical articles and published the classic two-volume manual: *Modern Photographic Processing* in 1979. He is known in the field as "the man who modernized the process to develop photos," and for opening the door to the digital age of photography. He also amassed an extensive collection of Kodak cameras and published a history of *George Eastman's Cameras* in 2011.

The Eastman Kodak Working Journals:

Haist's 12-volume set of research laboratory journals (lacking one volume, no. 11), document his series of laboratory experiments on the processing of Reversal F emulsions "in an attempt to find a non-toxic substitute for phenyl hydrazine in the developer," commencing in August, 1949 and concluding in July, 1954. Uniformly bound small quartos, the journals contain his research notes, observations, and conclusions written in manuscript on the rectos and versos. Interspersed throughout the text are charts, tables, and figures (mostly of chemical compounds). Laid-in or stapled-in throughout all 11 volumes are manuscript sheets (several folded) of additional notes, tables, charts, together with paper emulsion testing strips, and "Monthly Reports."

Among the research journals of Haist's colleagues, are four manuscript note book journals by James R. King that document King's processing and dark room experiments (with folded charts tipped-in and additional manuscript sheets of notes and tables laid-in); and three other loose volumes by Paul Webb and D.E. Willoughby.

The Images:
Over the course of his career, Haist's photographs appeared in America's leading popular magazines and trade publications. A member of the Kodak Camera Club and the Photographic Society of America, he exhibited his work on a regular basis at international exhibitions and at U.S. State fairs. He only used Kodak film, chemicals, paper, and cameras. The bulk of his black & white prints date from the 1950s and 1960s. Most were made by Haist on Kodabromide single weight and double weight enlarging papers. As one might expect from a processing expert, Haist's images are remarkable for their clear and sharp black & white aesthetic. Every aspect and detail of a Haist print: be it the reflection of sunlight on water, a shadow on snow, or a facial expression; and every texture, be it translucent or solid, are rendered in distinct contrasting tones.

While this aspect of his work is especially striking in his landscapes and nature prints, it is also characteristic of his vernacular photographs: of people at county fairs, the circus and rodeos; on the streets of New York City, Rochester, and Quebec City; of people at leisure, fishing, or bathing at lakes and at urban beaches and bays; and of various theatrical performers, and athletes. Haist travelled widely and made photographs everywhere he went: throughout the American West and Canada, New York and New England, his home state of Michigan, and adopted state of Florida. He typically made about 10 or more prints of varying contrasts from the same negative, on both single and double weight sheets. Among each set one or two prints are signed by him on the verso, most often with his ink stamp, and/or in manuscript, and/or with a typed paper label. In addition to his name and address, most of the signed prints have titles and inventory numbers, and several prints also include detailed information about how it was made, e.g., "Waiting for the Dogs - part of beach series - taken July 4, 1952 / 4x5 Graflex Camera, Panatomic-X film, 1/125 second at f/11." Or, "Super D Graflex / Super Panchro-Press, Type B / Wratten K-2 Filter 1/60 at f/11". A few prints also have his agent's ink stamp (Don Knight, based in San Francisco).

Most of the 8" x 10" prints are stored in contemporary Kodak boxes: at 250 single weight sheets per box and 500 double weight sheets per box, our estimate of a total number of over 10,000 prints is derived from splitting the difference between the two, calculated at approximately 375 mixed sheets (single and double weight) per box. We suspect the actual number is likely higher. All are in excellent, fine or near fine condition, with some occasional modest curling along the longer (11-inch) edges. It is likely that most, if not all of the original 4" x 5" negatives used to make the prints can be found among Haist's black & white large format sheet film negatives.

Haist's technical expertise and clear and sharp aesthetic are equally evident in his color transparencies. Landscapes and nature prints taken in the West (California, Utah, Colorado, Montana) and Vermont (circa early 1950s) comprise the bulk of his color images on large and medium format sheet film (4" x 5" and smaller). Landscapes and nature prints also are numerous among his glass mounted slides and 35mm slides (late 1940s-50s), together with many of the same or similar subjects seen in Haist's black & white prints of the 1950s-60s. Also included among the 35mm slides (and 9 reels of Kodachrome movie film) are images of Haist along with his wife and family.

A remarkable and comprehensive archive rich with images by this previously unknown American master. With the exception of the glass plate negatives, overall the prints, film, transparencies and other materials are in near fine or better condition.

A summary inventory and finding aid to the collection is available.