This circa 1939 Chrysler Corporation image is meant to demonstrate an increase in capacity for the De Soto's "luggage locker."

Harvard University Library Notes / November 2006 / No. 1334

The Human Factor: Introducing the Industrial Life Photograph Collection at Baker Library

Created in the years between the world wars, the Industrial Life Photograph Collection at Baker Library, Harvard Business School (HBS), reveals the colliding—and sometimes competing— messages of art and industry, education and public relations, humanity and modernization. Assembled in the 1930s by HBS colleagues Donald Davenport and Frank Ayres, the collection was intended to provide students, and America's aspiring corporate managers, with visual data to study the interaction of worker and machine—"the human factor." The introductory exhibition and its companion web site (http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/hf) include a selection from the over 2,100 images that comprise the Industrial Life Photograph Collection, featuring the work of such artists as Margaret Bourke-White and Lewis Hine. "The Human Factor" is the culmination of a multi-year initiative to identify, catalog, preserve, and make available for research use the rich and expansive photographic collections of Baker Library, Harvard Business School. These collections total over 20,000 photographs documenting the history of industrial production in the United States and in South and Central America.

"The Human Factor" is on view in the North Lobby of Baker Library through March 7. Gallery talks are scheduled for three Thursdays at 4 pm: November 16, January 18, and February 8.

<< Table of Contents | << Previous Article | Next Article >>

Links:

Current Issue

Contact Library Notes

Return to the top.