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Collection Overview

Creator:
Richards, Alan Windsor, 1899-
Title:
Alan W. Richards Photographs of Princeton University Athletics,
Repository:
Princeton University Archives
Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/7d278t76j
Dates:
1946-1970
Size:
4 boxes
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-4
Language:
English

Abstract

Alan Windsor Richards was a freelance photographer known for the images he captured of people and events associated with Princeton University from the mid-1940s through the late 1960s. The collection consists of photographic negatives and a very few photographic prints of images captured by Richards of Princeton University athletes and sports events.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Scope and Contents

Alan W. Richards Photographs of Princeton University Athletics, 1946-1970 consists of photographic negatives and a very few photographic prints of images captured by Alan W. Richards of Princeton University athletes and sports events. Approximately 3/4 of the images are related to Princeton University football. These include shots of individual players, coaches, and staff, as well as action shots of games and activities at Blairstown training camp. The Princeton University varsity, junior varsity, freshman and 150 lb. football teams are represented. The remaining 1/4 of the images are related to 16 different Princeton University sports: baseball, crew, cricket, cycling, fencing, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, squash, swimming, tennis, track, volleyball and wrestling.

Collection Creator Biography:

Richards, Alan Windsor, 1899-

Alan Windsor Richards was a freelance photographer known for the images he captured of people and events associated with Princeton University from the mid-1940s through the late 1960s. Richards was born in Scotland in 1899, the son of a steel magnate. He served in the Royal Air Force during World War I, and immigrated to the United States after the war.

Richards worked as an accountant for several decades after his arrival in the United States. During this period, Richards learned photography from Thomas Edison's personal photographer in exchange for giving the man, a Lithuanian, English lessons. At first, Richards treated photography as just a hobby, but around 1944, he applied for a position as a photographer in Princeton's Palmer Laboratory, which was then home to work being conducted under the Manhattan Project. The University hired him, and Richards' new career as a Princeton-based photographer was born when, his very first night in town, the University Gymnasium burned down and Richards was there photographing the blaze. Richards' position in Palmer Lab ended along with the end of World War II, but he found steady employment doing freelance photography in the Princeton area. His primary client was the University's new public relations department, but he also took photographs for publications, industrial clients, and scientific researchers.

Over the next quarter century, Richards' prolific work included thousands of images of buildings, celebrations, sporting events, and people associated with Princeton. Some of Richards' most popular images are from his photo shoots with Albert Einstein; these include the last portrait of Einstein before his death, and iconic images of Einstein walking between his home and his office at the Institute for Advanced Studies. Richards is also credited with having captured the only known image of Presidents Hoover, Truman, and Eisenhower together; the three posed for him at an event celebrating Princeton's bicentennial in 1947.

The subject that Richards' photographed most consistently, however, was Princeton University football. Over the more than 20 years leading up to his announced retirement in 1965, he missed photographing only five Princeton varsity football games. In addition to photographing nearly every varsity game, Richards shot images of junior varsity, freshman and 150-lb. division football, he made individual and team portraits of players and coaches, and he captured images of activity at Princeton's Blairstown training camp. His subjects during this period included Heisman trophy-winner Dick Kazmaier and beloved head coach Charles W. Caldwell. When Caldwell Field House was dedicated in 1963, over 100 of Richards' photographs decorated its walls. Richards died in February 1984.

Collection History

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. The Trustees of Princeton University hold copyright to all materials generated by Princeton University employees in the course of their work. For instances beyond Fair Use, if copyright is held by Princeton University, researchers do not need to obtain permission, complete any forms, or receive a letter to move forward with use of materials from the Princeton University Archives.

For instances beyond Fair Use where the copyright is not held by the University, while permission from the Library is not required, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Credit this material:

Alan W. Richards Photographs of Princeton University Athletics,; Princeton University Archives, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/7d278t76j
Location:
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
65 Olden Street
Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
(609) 258-6345
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-4

Find More

Related Materials

Over 800 of Richards' photographs of events and activities on the Princeton campus, including some additional sports photographs, may be found in AC112, the Campus Life series of the Historical Photograph Collection.

Over 200 of Richards' photographs of the Princeton University campus may be foundin AC111, the Grounds and Buildings series of the Historical Photograph Collection.

Smaller numbers of Richards' photographs can also be found in AC181, the Class Photographs series of the Historical Photograph Collection and in AC107, the Individuals series of the Historical Photograph Collection.

Bibliography

The following news articles, whcih were found in Richards' file in AC107 Faculty and Professional Staff files were consulted during preparation of biography of Alan W. Richards: "Richards Steps Out Of Picture: Local Photographer to Retire," The Daily Princetonian (Jan. 22, 1965); "Richards Records His Last Game," The Princeton Packet (Nov. 24, 1965); "International VIP's Highlight Photographer's Career," The Princeton Packet (Jan. 15, 1969). The following sources were also consulted during preparation of biography note: Ancestry.com Social Security Death Index [database on-line]; "Sports Photographer Richards: One of Greatest Princeton Fans," The Daily Princetonian (Nov. 21, 1969).

Subject Terms:
Cricket.
Cycling.
Fencing.
Lacrosse.
Squash (Game).
Genre Terms:
Photographic prints
black-and-white negatives.
Names:
Princeton University
Richards, Alan Windsor, 1899-