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50000 photographs (negatives, including some acetate) 8x10,4x5,35m
Medium Included:
negatives 8x10,4x5,35m
Organization/Arrangement:
Alphabetical by studio patron's name.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:
John Gordon "Jack" Spottswood, Jr. (1890-1950) was the son of a Jacksonville stock claim agent. Jack did free-lance photography and worked as an assistant sports editor and photographer for the Florida Times-Union before establishing an independent photographic studio in 1915. His son, John Gordon Spottswood (known as Gordon or J. Gordon), graduated from Bolles Military Academy in 1943 then served in the United States Navy during World War II, running a photography lab in Jacksonville with prisoners of war under his supervision.
After the war, Gordon worked with his father as a photographer in Spottswood Studio, later known as Jack Spottswood Photography (or Jack Spottswood Studio). After Jack's death, Gordon operated the studio for several decades, then closed it and established a studio in his home to continue taking portraits. Gordon became the first certified forensic photographer in the state and the first lifetime member of the Professional Photographers of Florida. Gordon died on March 22, 2009 in Jacksonville.
Summary:
This collection consists of over 50,000 images comprising five decades of photography by Jack and Gordon Spottswood out of their photography studio in Jacksonville, Florida. As commercial photographers, the Spottswoods were kept on retainer by the Seaboard Railroad and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, and they did a considerable amount of work for real estate agencies and for insurance companies photographing accident scenes. As a result, the collection contains numerous images of Jacksonville-area street scenes, businesses, churches, hotels, theaters, and trains, as well as studio portraits and wedding photographs.
Among the photographs in this collection are images of stores, restaurants, banks, automobile dealerships, service stations, and other businesses; synagogues, churches, choirs, and pastors and their families; scouting groups, political organizations, athletic clubs, charitable organizations, fraternal organizations, and other clubs and civic organizations; construction sites and equipment; funerals and wakes; railroad train engines, crews, passenger cars, freight cars, tracks, yards, and terminals; other transportation images, including cars, trucks, buses, motorcycles, ships and boats, and planes; residences, including private homes, apartments, and housing projects; school buildings, groups, and events, including public and private high schools, vocational schools, military academies, and business colleges; sporting groups and events; and advertising displays for banks, stores, food manufacturers, and other businesses. Women are well represented in the collection. Areas of interest are postmortem photographs, women working in health care, and union strike photographs.
Finding Aids:
Additional Physical Form:
Select images have been digitized and are available on the Florida Memory web site: https://www.floridamemory.com/discover/photographs/
Reproduction Note:
Location of Originals/Duplicates:
Associated Materials:
Language Notes:
Ownership/Custodial History:
This collection was found in a Jacksonville second-hand store by the donor and was purchased from him by the Florida State University Library for the Florida Photographic Collection.
Spottswood, Gordon d. ca. 1976 (John Gordon), Spottswood, Jack d. ca. 1950 (John Gordon),
Jack Spottswood Photography Spottswood Studio Jack Spottswood Studio
Commercial photography Photography Photography, Commercial Women History 20th century Florida Women in medicine Florida
Photographs. aat Negatives. aat
Jacksonville (Fla.)
for detailed listing.