It's been a while since our previous installment. Let's just call it an accidental use of dramatic suspense. The alternative would be for me to explain that I've been tied-up with my day job; but being crabby about being busy at work seems singularly inappropriate, especially in this economy. So, dramatic suspense, it is!
October 11, 1941. Associate Director Demaray of the National Park Service agrees to pay the salary of Ansel Adams for both preparing his Mural Project images and installing the images in the DC Interior building. He also agrees that his shop isn't really covering the cost, merely providing a pipeline from the Secretary's Office (its "contingent fund") to Adams.
Naturally, it can't be that simple.
As Demaray points out, Adams and his wife run a photography studio in Yosemite National Park ("Best Studios"). The permit for that studio's operation in Yosemite contains a prohibition against government employees sharing in either the permit or its benefits.
Does this mean that Adams will be required to give up his valuable Yosemite permit? No. Demaray suggests that the Secretary of the Interior (the same gentleman who essentially hired Adams) "probably could" enact a waiver of the policy that would have kept Adams from being both a government employee and a permit-holder.
Has anyone in charge read his contract?
