By Finding aid encoded by Rebecca A. Smith on November 09, 2005
Title: Claude Matlack photographs of South Florida, 1896-1943
Predominant Dates:1918-1942
ID: 02/1952-001
Creator: Matlack, Claude Carson (1878-1944)
Extent: 12.0 Linear Feet. More info below.
Arrangement:
Arranged numerically (usually also chronologically) in 50 topical series established by the photographer. Prints and corresponding negatives have a two-part number (e.g., 14-1), in which the second number (-1) is the series and the first number (14-) is the item. A 51st series is arranged by a four-digit number, and contains photographs Matlack did not assign to one of the topical series.
Prints and negatives are filed separately.
Date Acquired: 00/00/1952
Black-and-white photographs of places and people in Miami Beach, Miami, other parts of Dade County, the Florida Keys, and the Everglades; and to a lesser extent, of Fort Lauderdale, the Bahamas, and Fort Jefferson. Series include buildings of various types, Seminole Indians, people at beaches, recreational boats and boating, polo, golf, school children, aviation, film making, dredging and construction.
The bulk of the collection are 5x7 photographic prints. Views are of places, building exteriors, events and people in Miami, Miami Beach, and South Florida. Examples of topics include: clearing mangroves on Miami Beach and construction of the Overseas Highway; Seminole and Miccosukee Indians, mainly at Musa Isle and along the Tamiami Trail; present-day Everglades National Park, Tamiami Trail and environs, present-day Big Cypress National Preserve, and Ft. Jefferson (Dry Tortugas).
Corresponding negatives exist for most of the photographic prints. 5x7 inch negatives include original safety negatives and direct duplicate negatives made from nitrate-based negatives. 4x5 negaives include original safety negatives, direct duplicate negatives made from nitrate-based negatives, and copy negatives made from the 5x7 prints.
Matlack kept several logs, which record number, date photographed, and, for about half the entries, brief subject. The photographer's logs are in several original, post-bound binders.
Commercial photographer. Matlack worked in Miami and Miami Beach between 1918 and 1942.
Alternate Extent Statement: circa 7,300 items
Access Restrictions: The photographic prints and logs are open for research.
Use Restrictions: Permission from Historical Museum of Southern Florida staff required prior to reproduction of drawings and photographs in a publication. Please contact archives staff for more information.
Physical Access Note: Negatives not available due to fragility. Use photographic prints or digital images.
Acquisition Source: Mileo Photo Shop
Acquisition Method: Gift.
Appraisal Information:
Some of the photographs were said to have been damaged during the 1964 hurricane (the museum, then directly on Biscayne Bay, sustained water damage. This may or may not account for the missing series (they disappeared before 1974).
Nitrate-base negatives destroyed during the 1970s, to reduce fire hazard. Many of these negatives were copied on direct-duplicate film prior to destruction.
The photographic prints were removed from acidic albums in 1983-1984. Some of the prints were accidentally torn during the process.
Separated Materials: Matlack's Kentucky photographs were transferred to the University of Louisville photographic archives sometime between 1973 and 1977.
Related Publications:
Obituary. In Tequesta, no. 4 (1944), p. 57.
Thomas, Samuel W. Dawn Comes to the Mountains. Louisville, Ky.: George Rogers Clark Press, c1981. Pictorical account of Matlack in Kentucky.
Preferred Citation: Claude C. Matlack Collection, HistoryMiami.
Other Note: Item-level database available for research in the archives. Digital images are attached to some of the database records.
