Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Lawrence V. Smith Slide Collection, Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library , Accession # AV2015.4, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Acquisition Information

Gift

Biographical Information

Lawrence V. Smith began his career with the intent of becoming a chemist but soon discovered an alternate path as a widely respected photo journalist and filmmaker. He received a B.S. in Education from Illinois State University in 1955 and commenced post-graduate studies in chemistry at Iowa State University. A term of services in the United States Army gave him the opportunity to learn how to operate a movie camera and he discovered his true calling behind the lens. His early photographic work combined his scientific background with his growing interest in filmmaking when he received a contract with Encyclopedia Britannica to direct the filming of a series of high school level chemistry classes. This was soon followed by an assignment with CBS-TV to document the Cuban Revolution in 1958, winning him his first Emmy award. He then went on to work for Russell-Barton Film Company on a series of television programs and documentaries.

Smith returned to TV news in 1963, when he joined ABC-TV, and a few years later became part of its Far East photography unit, where he served as Director of Photography for a number of documentaries about current events in the Far East. "Reflections in Vietnam" won him a second Emmy award. In 1965, Smith also founded Lawrence Smith Productions, Inc. and contracted with a wide variety of news agencies, television broadcasts, sports teams and political groups. His work as Director of Photography for "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" won him two successive Emmy awards in 1966 and 1967

The 1970s offered Smith the oopportunity for adventuresome photo and film shoots around the world, as well as the chance to impact the local filmmaking scene in his home town of Jacksonville, Florida. His underwater photography skills qualified him for the unique experience of living as an aquanaut for two weeks in the Virgin Islands in the Department of Interior's Tektite II Underwater Habitat. Smith also traveled to Africa to direct photography for a hunting safari special and devised new methods for seamless filming of the safari experience. At home, he joined local colleagues in forming the Jacksonville Motion Picture and Television Council and led the new group as its first President. During the 1970s, Smith and his wife, Linda Lockwood Slmith, also vacationed in Williamsburg, Virginia several times and this allowed him to capture his fascination with the living history museum on film.

Later in his career, Smith developed expertise in corporate and transportation photography, working on projects for CSX Transportation, the Occidental Chemical Corporation, and the Jacksonville Port Authority. He assisted Traffic World Magazine with stock images of a variety of transportation subjects and supplied at least twenty-six cover shots per year. The White House invited him to participate as a photographer in the 1992 Presidential Campaign Whistle Stop Tour. He photographed and filmed many navy vessels, submarines and aircraft in the 1990s, both for the military and for port authorities in Jacksonville, Los Angeles, and Long Beach. As the digital age of photography unfolded, Smith began to market his large archive of transportation photography and spent the remaining years of his career providing stock images rapidly via digital transmission to Business Week, Time Magazine, and U.S. News & World Report. Smith passed away on August 30, 2010. His legacy remains in the form of a vast pictorial archive of which his Colonial Williamsburg images form a small part.

Scope and Content

The Lawrence V. Smith Slide Collection encompasses color photographs Mr. Smith took during a series of visits to Colonial Williamsburg in the 1970s. Although not on official assignment to illustrate a story, his keen photographic eye still responded to the beauty and pageantry of Colonial Williamsburg, offering him the opportunity to experiment with new subject matter. His images capture a wide range of museum activities, exhibition buildings, personnel, and evocative moods within the Historic Area. The trade shops are particularly well-documented with images of the shop exterior and interiors, as well as extensive coverage of trade demonstrations. Those trades represented include the basket maker, brick maker, candle maker, cooper, leather maker, metalsmiths, milliner, printer and papermaker, textiles, and the wheelwright. Many close-up shots document methods used in the 1970s that are not necessarily still demonstrated in exactly the same way by tradesmen today.

Mr. Smith also photographed the exterior and interior of numerous exhibition buildings and many of the images document exterior features or interior furnishings that have since been modified as a result of further research on the part of Colonial Williamsburg curators and historians. Thus, they capture a unique perspective on interpretation of period rooms, paint colors, historic signs, and architectural elements during the 1970s.

Mr. Smith's interest in transportation is evident in the many photos he took of colonial carriages and ox carts. His slides document a wide range of wagons and open-air carriages used to transport guests around the Historic Area. A unique pair of photos captures an official United States helicopter on a Colonial Williamsburg green ready for loading visiting dignitaries for a flight back to Washington DC.

Smith also captured holiday events at Colonial Williamsburg. His 1976 visit to experience Colonial Williamsburg at Christmas is represented in a series of slides of Christmas decorations and the annual Christmas parade on Duke of Gloucester Street. In 1978, he returned for Fourth of July festivities and photographed a parade, militia drills, flag bearers, and the Fife and Drum Corps.

The visitor's experience at Colonial Williamsburg taverns, retail stores, and the Williamsburg Inn are featured, as well. Mr. and Mrs. Smith stayed at both the Market Square Tavern and the Williamsburg Inn during different visits and Smith photographed the architectural features, signboards, interior furnishings, and grounds of each. The couple also ate meals at the King's Arms Tavern and Chowning's Tavern and toured the Raleigh Tavern and Wetherburn's Tavern properties. They also shopped by the Prentis Store, Tarpley's Store, and the Craft House, where Smith took a succession of detail photos of shop window displays and reproduction colonial goods.

Arrangement

Arranged by series.

Related Material

Lawrence Smith's images can be found in repositories around the country, including the Smithsonian Museum of American History, the University of North Florida Library, the Jacksonville Historical Society, the National Museum of Commercial Aviation, and the Vietnam Center and Archive. A complete list of institutions, private owners, and commerical owners holding portions of his photographic and film archives can be found in the biographical information folder within the collection.

Index Terms

Persons:

• Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg
• Photographers - Florida - Jacksonville
• Photojournalists - American
• Slides
• Smith, Lawrence V. (Lawrence Victor), 1931-2010
• Transparencies
• Williamsburg (Va.) - Buildings, structures, etc.
• Williamsburg (Va.) - Photographs

Adjunct Descriptive Data