Jim Dallas photographs
Creation: 1932 Creation: 1960-2002Abstract
James "Jim" Joseph Dallas, Sr. (1932-2019) was a photographer employed by the DuPont Company, a chemical company. He worked at DuPont for ten years before opening his own industrial and commercial photography business, Dallas Studios based in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1968, Dallas also worked as a freelance commercial and industrial photographer. Companies such as the Speakman Company, Strescon Industries, Cytometrics Incorporated, and ICI America Incorporated are just a few of the industries he worked for. This collection consists of images from Jim Dallas’ assignments primarily for the DuPont Company. The collection of negatives and photographic prints are arranged into five different sereis: I. Sites, II. Products, III. Advertisements and publications, IV. Events and meetings, and V. People.
Dates
- Creation: 1932
- Creation: 1960-2002
Creator
Extent
17 Linear Feet
Physical Description
Over 5,000 photographic prints of sizes 2.5 x 2.5 in., 3.5 x 5 in., 4 x 5 in., 5.5 x 5.5 in., 8 x 10 in. and various oversize formats. Approximately 1,000 slide transparencies. Over 15,000 negatives of sizes 35 mm., 120 mm., 4 x 5 in., 5 x 7 in., 8 x 10 in. In addition to graphic materials, the collection includes trade journals, invoices, print advertisments, and articles.
Biographical Note
James "Jim" Joseph Dallas, Sr. (1932-2019) was a photographer employed by the DuPont Company, a chemical company. He worked at DuPont for ten years before opening his own industrial and commercial photography business, Dallas Studios based in Wilmington, Delaware.
He spent his childhood growing up in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, and worked for Bethlehem Steel. Dallas joined the Air Force and served in the Korean War in the early 1950s, where he flew photographic recon assignments.
After serving in the war, Dallas began taking photographs for the DuPont Company throughout the 1970s. As an industrial photographer, Dallas highlighted various sites related to the company's endeavors, such as manufacturing plants, experimental stations, areas for mining and testing explosive products, and farms and nurseries that grew DuPont Company crops and tested agrichemical products. Dallas had also taken extensive promotional photographs of specific DuPont Company products, including their agrichemicals, paint products, metal products, packaging materials, and fibers used for apparel and other textiles.
In 1968, Dallas also worked as a freelance commercial and industrial photographer. Companies such as the Speakman Company, Strescon Industries, Cytometrics Incorporated, and ICI America Incorporated are just a few of the industries he worked for.
Dallas married Concetta "Connie" Dallas in 1959, and he and his wife had three children. Connie Dallas worked alongside her husband at the studio as a commercial and portrait photographer.
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of images from Jim Dallas’ assignments, primarily for the DuPont Company. The collection of negatives and photographic prints are arranged into five series: I. Sites, II. Products, III. Advertisements and publications, IV. Events and meetings, and V. People.
The Sites series makes up the bulk of the collection material. In this series, the graphic materials show the manufacturing plants, experimental stations, farms, mountain ranges, plant nurseries, and other locales related to industries’ work. The files have been named by the type of site (Plants, Mountains, Experimental Station, Farms, etc.) followed by a more exact location indicator.
The Products series includes images of actual products in bottles or containers, ready for sale, primarily of the DuPont Compay. These products are chemical, plastic, metal, and fiber-based. There is a particularly high volume of materials relating to the DuPont Company agrichemical products, Benlate and Glean being two of the most photographed herbicides in this collection. Some images show DuPont products used in making different products (i.e., synthetic fibers and nylon fabric made into apparel).
The Advertisements and publications series includes files of mixed materials and graphic materials. The companies that Dallas had photographed for have various trade journals and company publications that highlight the photographs he took. The DuPont Company’s many departments are featured in this series, each having its own journal (DuPont Instruments, DuPont Agrichemicals, DuPont Textiles, etc.). Along with the journals and other text-based material, this series includes negatives and photographic prints of models posing with products for advertisements.
The Events and meetings series is a smaller series that includes the collection material concerning the companies’ private events and local Delaware happenings. The images included are primarily sales meetings and press conferences, as well as the celebrations of the production of the 1000th and 2000th automatic clinical analyzers by the DuPont Company.
The People series includes portraits and snapshots of employees and executives at the DuPont Company and Cytometrics Incorporated. This is the smallest series in the Jim Dallas collection.
Access Restrictions
No restrictions on access; this collection is open for research.
Negatives/Slides/Film material (Boxes 12-23 and 29, Film Cans 1-2) are located in remote storage. Please contact staff 48 hours in advance of research visit at askhagley@hagley.org
Language of Materials
English
Additional Description
Provenance
Gift of Jim Dallas.
Subjects
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- Jim Dallas photographs
- Author:
- Jamie Bressmer
- Date:
- 2022
- Description rules:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description:
- English
- Script of description:
- Latin
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Audiovisual Collections Repository
