PHOTOGRAPHS Series Overview,, 1912-1981.

PHOTOGRAPHS consists of a variety of pictures taken during the length of HAW's congressional career as well as many photos from his personal life. These visual snapshots capture moments in the development of significant legislation and policies concerning HAW, while giving visual clues to the culture and history of that time. Such images include hearings, presidential bill signings, meetings with groups and individuals, gatherings of government and elected officials, foreign travel on government matters, and the like. PHOTOGRAPHS is especially strong with regard to images of the working and living conditions of migratory labor, and Senate field visits on the matter, which was a major focus of HAW's career, principally in the 1960s.

The personal photos provide significant glimpses into HAW's life outside of the legislative arena, while highlighting the extent to which the boundaries of personal and professional blur in a political career. These photos include family life, social gatherings, and campaign activities. In addition to the focus on HAW and his interests, PHOTOGRAPHS includes an extensive array of images of presidents, senators, and other federal officials and politicians; individuals and groups from New Jersey state government, municipalities, corporations, and educational and other institutions; sports and entertainment celebrities; and scenes of the natural and built environment from Washington DC, New Jersey, and other states.

PHOTOGRAPHS is organized in three sub-series:

The bulk of the photos were found in labeled folders as organized by HAW's staff members. These photos were generally well organized and in chronological order, and were placed by the archivist in new folders with original folder descriptions. These comprise the Photo Files sub-series. Many of the photos, however, were found in no organized order, often with little or no descriptive information. These comprise the Photos by Subject sub-series, with the subject determined by the archivist from reference to the light description found with the photos or from the photos themselves. Photos found in standalone albums or in frames comprise the final sub-series.

Included with some photos was a letter of introduction or other explanatory document; these were kept in front or behind the matching photo or, where the relationship was potentially ambiguous, clipped or enclosed together. Unfortunately, many loose slips of paper identifying events and individuals found in the original folders held an uncertain relation to specific photos. These materials were retained in the files as found.

Many of the photos did not have dates. In these instances, the archivist assigned a date range in the container lists when a date could be reasonably identified from the subject, from context, or from a reasoned estimate. Where no date was present and the archivist was unable to hazard an estimate, the date range remained undated.

Given the large number of photos, only select items were encapsulated in plastic sleeves for preservation reasons, including those items torn/frayed, oversized, having unsecured captions, inscribed, color photos, or those particularly unique.