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The purpose of this collection is to assemble and preserve an undervalued visual resource for future generations. As a visual artist interested in images of labor, I selected the books for their photographic and design content. Although corporate histories are still being produced today, 1980 was selected a cutoff for this web site. In part, this reflects the diminished role of books today. The nature of business has changed as well. Corporations pay more attention to the demands of the stock market issuing lavish annual reports. Advertising, in both print media and television, has also assumed a greater role in communicating corporate messages to the public. Moreover, the shift to service industries has made a dramatic visual documentation of work more difficult. A photograph of a worker seated in front of a computer at a desk is inherently less dramatic than the same worker tapping a blast furnace, or welding an automobile chassis.
I am hopeful that an educational institution or museum will be interested in acquiring these books.
I also believe the material on this site would be the foundation for a book on photography and business histories.
These photographs could constitute a wonderful traveling show for many civic, public and private institutions.
I am also interested in further acquisition of labor images in company histories and publications.
If anyone has a book that they would like to donate or sell please contact me.
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