Crawford H. Greenewalt films and sound recordings
Creation: 1950-1985Abstract
Crawford Hallock Greenewalt (1902-1993) was a chemical engineer and the President of the DuPont Company from 1948 to 1962. He had a passion for the natural sciences, and combined his love of ornithology with photography. He was especially known for his high speed photographs of hummingbirds. The bulk of the collection consists of nature films shot by Greenewalt, primarily of hummingbirds. The collection is divided into three series: Nature films, DuPont films and Sound recordings.
Dates
- Creation: 1950-1985
Creator
- Greenewalt, Crawford H., 1902-1993 (Person)
Extent
94 item(s)
Physical Description
16 reels (100 ft) : si., col. ; 16 mm. 4 reels (400 ft) : si., col. ; 16mm. 34 reels (400 ft) : si., b&w ; 16mm. 2 reels (200 ft) : si., b&w ; 16mm. 1 reel (100 ft) : si., b&w ; 16mm. 1 reel (100 ft) : si., b&w ; 16mm. 2 reels (200 ft) : si, b&w ; 35 mm. 4 reels (600 ft) : si., b&w ; 16 mm. 3 reels (800 ft) : sd., b&w ; 16 mm. 2 reels (800 ft) ; sd., col. ; 16 mm. 14 reels (400 ft) : si., col. ; Super 8. 8 reels (200 ft) : si. col. ; Super 8. 2 reels (200 ft) ; si., b&w ; 8 mm.
Biographical Note
Crawford Hallock Greenewalt (1902-1993) was a chemical engineer and the President of the DuPont Company from 1948 to 1962. He had a passion for the natural sciences, and combined his love of ornithology with photography. He was especially known for his high speed photographs of hummingbirds. His ornithological interests included bird songs, the radiance of hummingbird feathers and the evolution of shapes and sizes of birds in relation to their flight abilities.
Born August 16, 1902 in Cummington, Massachusetts, Crawford H. Greenewalt was the son of Frank Lindsay Greenewalt (1865-1942) and Mary Elizabeth Hallock Greenewalt (1871-1950). He graduated from William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia and earned a BS in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1922. Immediately after graduating from MIT, Greenewalt began a lifelong career with the DuPont Company.
Greenewalt made significant contributions to stop-action and time-lapse photography. He authored three monograph works: The Uncommon Man: the Individual in the Organization, published in 1959; Hummingbirds, published in 1960; and Birdsong: Acoustics and Physiology, published in 1968. He also wrote numerous articles in a variety of publications, such as National Geographic and the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society.
In 1950, a feature film was made about the du Pont family and history of the DuPont Company called The Du Pont Story. Former company president Walter S. Carpenter Jr. (1888-1976) and Greenewalt appear briefly in the film.
During his tenure as company president the DuPont Company celebrated its 150th anniversary on July 18, 1952, on the site of the original Eleutherian Mills. The event paid tribute to the memory of its founder. The ceremonies included a historical dramatic prologue depicting the founding of the company, a dedication of a marker formed by a huge millstone ordered from France by du Pont in 1801, and music by the duPont chorus and band. Crawford H. Greenwalt, gave an address to company employees, du Pont family members and other guests.
From 1957 to 1961, a television anthology series called The DuPont Show of the Month began to air on CBS.The series presented adaptations of literary works as well as original dramas. It was the first anthology series to stage a television dramatization of Thornton Wilder's novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey.
In 1926, Greenewalt married Margaretta Lammot DuPont (1902-1991) and they were the parents of three children.
Scope and Content
The bulk of the collection consists of nature films shot by Greenewalt, primarily of hummingbirds. The collection is divided into three series: Nature films, DuPont films, and Sound recordings.
The Nature films include both black and white and color films of birds, fish, insects and hummingbirds in motion. The footage highlights Greenewalt's high speed filming ability and many of the films are of his experiments with hummingbirds and wind tunnels. The nature films also include time lapse films and observations in nature
The DuPont films consist of three films related to the DuPont Company; a copy of the film The Du Pont Story; Thornton Wilder's The Bridge of San Luis Fey; and silent, color footage of the 150th Anniversary of DuPont. There are also two brief home movies that show the Greenewalt family doing leisure activities such as swimming and playing tennis.
The Sound recordings are three reel-to-reels containing bird calls, primarily of a small songbird, Menura Alberti.
Access Restrictions
No restrictions on access; this collection is open for research.
There are no viewing or listening stations for analog audio, video, or film in the reading room. To access this material, please place a digitization request for the item(s).
Language of Materials
English
Subjects
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- Crawford H. Greenewalt films and sound recordings
- Author:
- Laurie Rizzo
- Date:
- 2014
- 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
