This collection contains photographs, negatives, slides, digital images, sound recordings, videos and films that document the history of the Chamber from its founding through to the twenty-first century. The materials provide a record not only of the activities of the Chamber, but also the political landscape surrounding key issues related to business. The collection focuses on the legislation, regulations and litigation concerning the economy, immigration reform, pensions, healthcare, trade, social security, air quality, global warming, workplace safety, and taxes; as well as major industries such as energy, aviation, automobiles, agriculture, transportation, mining, shipping, and technology.

The collection is arranged into thirteen series: Chamber photographs; Nations Business photographs; Negatives and slides; Digital images; Ephemera; Audio; Breakfast Bunch audio; Video; Living Legends videos; TV spots videos; film; It’s Your Business videos; and Video (1” open reels).

The Chamber photographs series contains ten subseries: Annual Meetings; Arch Booth files; Chair trips, events and albums; Chamber President’s portraits and press photographs; Chamber staff and board members; Meetings and events; People and portraits; Posters; Subject files; and Washington D.C. area and Chamber Building.

The Annual Meeting subseries is arranged chronologically and dates from 1946 through 1979. Photographs were taken at the Annual Meeting and document the four-day conferences that took place at headquarters and surrounding hotels. The meeting consisted of a variety of panels, speakers, breakfasts, luncheons and dinners focusing on business issues such as taxation, private pensions, energy, labor, strikes, and education.

Three large general sessions occurred throughout the four days. The First General Session typically began with a Marine Band and flag ceremony. These three sessions had notable keynote speakers, often U.S. Presidents or Vice Presidents.

The Annual Dinners were black-tie affairs, which also had notable keynote speakers and entertainment (e.g. singers and musicians). Other sessions were panels or forums with multiple presenters and appeared to run concurrently with other events. Breakfasts and luncheons were also themed sessions with speakers.

The Chamber Board met at the Annual Meeting, and the outgoing chairman ceremoniously passed the gavel to the incoming chairman. Awards and recognitions were presented, and photographers documented the meeting. These images were then used in various Chamber publications such as Business Action, Washington Report and the Chamber’s Annual Report.

Arch Booth files contain photographs primarily of Arch Booth at Annual Meetings and other USCC events, trips and functions. The subseries is arranged chronologically and dates from 1953 to 1975.

Chair trips, events and albums subseries contains photographs of the board chair’s travels to state and foreign chambers in 1985 and from 1997 to 2011. The materials are arranged chronologically by chairman and by trip or event. A bulk of the images are from Chairman Bill Little's and Chairman Steve Van Andel’s trips. At the end of the Chair’s tenure, a leather-bound presentation album was produced documenting the year in office. The albums contain digitally printed photo-collaged pages, which use photographs and documents to depict the chair’s accomplishments. These albums date from 2001 to 2009.

The Chamber President's portraits and press photographs subseries contains images of every Chamber president from 1912 through to 1997. For some presidents, there is only a portrait photograph; however, for many, there are a number of images at various events or other press photography shoots involving the president’s spouse or family. Except for photographs of Arch Booth, which document his career with the Chamber prior to becoming Chamber president in 1974, most images of the presidents seem to have been taken while in office.

Chamber staff and board members subseries is arranged alphabetically by last name. The materials are primarily formal portraits and headshots; some are group photographs or slightly more candid. Although the images date from 1944 to 2005, the bulk of the photographs are from the 1970s and 1980s.

Meetings and events subseries contains photographs taken at a variety of Chamber occasions including press conferences, staff meetings, board and committee meetings, conferences like the Business Outlook Conference and the Aircade, as well as visits from U.S. Presidents Eisenhower and Reagan. The photographs in this series date from 1945 to 1980.

People and portraits subseries contains photographs of prominent business leaders, U.S. Presidents, foreign business and political leaders and celebrities. This subseries is arranged alphabetically by last name and dates from 1944 to 1999, with a bulk of the materials dating from the 1950s and 1960s.

Posters subseries contains large images mounted on foam core or board, which appear to have been on display at the Chamber at some point. The images are of various members of Congress, portraits of businesspeople, and other industry leaders speaking at the Chamber. These posters are dated 2000 to 2003, although at least two contain historical b&w images.

Subject files subseries contains photograph files that presumably belonged to the secretary or assistant to Arch Booth. The files primary arranged chronologically, then alphabetically. The files date from 1961 to 1975, with the bulk of photographs from 1968 to 1973. The images are generally committee meetings, organizational events, conferences, and people giving testimony.

Washington D.C. area and Chamber Building subseries includes construction, interiors, exteriors and detail images of the USCC headquarters from its first construction through to the 21st century. There are also numerous images of views around Washington D.C. including the Capitol Building, Supreme Court Building, monuments and statues. These images date from circa 1920 to 2003, with a bulk of the materials from 1925 through the 1960s.

Nations Business photographs series consists of more than 15,000 original photographs that were taken for publication in the magazine. The images date from the 1890s to 2004, with a bulk of the material dating from the 1940s through the 1960s. Most photographs contain the photographer's notations on the back. There are eighty-two subseries based on how the photographers categorized the photographs. The category was written on the back of the photograph in the upper left-hand corner.

The eighty-two subseries are arranged alphabetically by topic. The photographs illustrate various sectors of the U.S. economy, including transportation, agriculture, energy and manufacturing. These images include employees on-the-job, production facilities and final products in the petroleum, coal, metal, mining, chemical, aircraft, textile, shipbuilding, and automobile industries.

There are also many photographs related to U.S. military actions, training and equipment, including World Wars I and II. Other images depict street scenes, everyday life, and economic activity organized by country, state and city, with many images of New York City, and over sixty-seven countries, particularly those in Europe and the Middle East. Many of the prints show the crop lines indicating the portion of the image that the editor wished to reproduce in the magazine.

The Negatives and slides series is made up of files that presumably were kept by the Chamber staff photographers. Each photography assignment was given a job and/or negative number, which is almost chronological. The original order has been maintained, files are arranged by the job/negative number (which do not appear in the finding aid but has been recorded). The images date from 1981 to 2001, with some images from 2003.

Many of the negatives have had contact sheets and selected prints made, these have been separated for preservation. Where there are contact sheets and/or prints of negatives, they are are listed below the negatives they are of. The content of the images are Chamber events, meetings, conferences, press conferences, political leaders, Chamber staff, the Chamber building and tapings of broadcasts such as Quality Learning Series and It’s Your Business. Events include, congressional meet and greets; International Forum; Policy Insiders; Moot Court; Spirit of Enterprise awards; board meetings; holiday parties; the World Economic Forum; and the National Chamber Litigation Center (NCLC) Supreme Court briefings.

Digital images series is a continuation of the Negatives and slides series. The file formats are primarily JPEGs, some TIFFs, CR2, NEFs (i.e. raw files) and a couple of PowerPoints and MOV files. The materials are organized by the job/negative number (which does not appear in the finding aid but has been recorded). The order is almost chronological, dating from 2000 to 2010. The content of the images is the same as the content of the Negatives and slides series; images of Chamber events, meetings, conferences, press conferences, tapings of broadcasts, political leaders, and Chamber staff. The titles are provided from the metadata embedded in the digital image files.

The Ephemera series includes two plaques, a T-shirt, medallions, patches, and buttons. There is also a board game called “See How They Run,” which includes instructions and does not appear to have missing pieces. These materials date from 1979 to 1982.

Audio series contains sound recording of Chamber events and a few radio broadcasts. These include the Cuba press conference; Profit: The Bottom Line; Electronic Retailing Association; and one program of What’s the Issue? The audio recordings are primarily cassette tapes, some reel-to-reels and one phonograph record. The series is arranged alphabetically, and the recordings date from 1970 to 1995.

The Breakfast Bunch audio series contains audiocassette tapes of the keynote address at these monthly events. The tapes are arranged chronologically and date from 1979 to 1992. It is not a full run, tapes are sporadic.

Video series contains video recordings of many Chamber events and broadcasts. The videos are arranged alphabetically, first by sponsored events, then by unsponsored events.

For ease in browsing the list, all videos sponsored by the National Chamber Foundation (NCF) now known as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, are also listed in alphabetical order (under “N”); however, NCF appears after the title instead of before.

The videos date from 1982 to 2009 and are in a variety of formats including Beta Cam -large, Beta Cam -small, U-Matic, VHS, DVCam, DVmini, and DVD. Videos are housed together by format; therefore, the box numbers are not concurrent.

The content of the videos includes events of the Association Leadership Series; Association Executive Leadership Series; Policy Insiders; International Forum; Quality Learning series; Brazil-U.S. Business Council; U.S.-India Business Council; Business Civic Leadership Center; Institute for Legal Reform; Center for Corporate Citizenship; CEO Close-Up; CEO Leadership Series; Energy Summit; ACCESS conference (now known as America's Small Business Summit); Aviation summits; and the National Chamber Litigation Center (NCLC) Supreme Court Press Briefings.

Living Legends videos are arranged chronologically and date from 1988 to 1992. These include interviews with prominent business leaders such as Robert O. Anderson, Charles Brown, James E. Burke, Liz Claiborne, Howard J. Morgens and Thomas J. Watson Jr. among many others.

TV spots videos (VHS) series is arranged chronologically and dates from 1990 to 2002, with one recording in 1987. Chamber representatives were often interviewed or asked to speak to the press. This series contains television segments in which a Chamber representative appeared or when there was a news report about the organization.

Film series contains films by the Chamber generally on specific business topics. Titles include but are not limited to: The Atom Comes to Town; The Story of Creative Capital; Once Upon a Time; The Magic Key; and People, Products and Progress. There are many reels, trims and cuts from the film production company, Francis Thompson Inc. using the titles Grassroots and Chamber II. There are some films of events the 1976 Apollo flight footage and the 1977 Annual Meeting. This series is arranged alphabetically, and films date from 1948, 1958, and from 1962 to 1977. A few films have discussion guides or other associated documents which are housed separately from the films for preservation, but are listed underneath the appropriate film.

It’s Your Business videos are arranged chronologically by episode number. The early episodes are 1" and 2" open reel video tape, the later episodes are on U-Matic, Beta Cam - large and small. The television show aired from 1979 through 1998. It is not a complete run, each year is missing an episode or two. This series also includes special episodes and advertisements that were aired during commercial breaks.

Hagley Museum and Library does not have playback equipment for the 2" open reel videotape.

The Videos (1” open reel) series is arranged alphabetically and includes various Chamber broadcasts from 1982 to 1989. There are several recordings of episodes and promos for Ask Washington and Biznet.