or You could pay for him!

Once upon a time, Secretary Ickes and First Assistant Secretary Burlew thought they were hiring Ansel Adams to document Department of the Interior projects and the American landcape (among other things), in order to produce photographic murals for the walls of the Interior building.

Then, someone read the rules. 

It seems that in 1941, the Office of the Secretary could only have people on its payroll whose position resided in Washington, DC.  Adams, of course, would be spending his time elsewhere, leaving the Office of the Secretary unable to pay him.

Not to make too light of the situation, but this is where one might say, "Oops."

Enter, National Park Service Director Newton B. Drury, recipient of today's letter.  Drury was "asked" to "bear the major cost" of Adams' pay, while the Secretary's office agreed to keep responsibility for the brunt of Adams' travel expenses.

This seems an odd memo, considering the last note (from just a few days earlier) was laying blame for Adams' lack of a proper appointment on a delay in receipt of a form.  Was this (the lateness excuse) the truth, or was it just a way to cover for this additional problem?

or You could pay for him!

Form 375? Whoops!

It's possible that I'm making too little of today's entry, but my aversion to bureaucratic forms is kicking in.

Apparently, there was some delay in receiving a Form 375 from Adams.  Form 375 was the standardized Application for Employment of 1941.

This is the part where anyone who knows me is asking, "How do you know what the Application for Employment was in 1941?  You're no historian of bureaucracy."  Well, that's true, but I am reasonably adept with Google:

     "form 375" department interior

Result #1 (to this not-terribly-complex search): Peter La Chapelle's Proud to be an Okie.  There's an endnote about a 1941 application for Department of the Interior employment for one Woodrow W. Guthrie.  "Woody's" application was on a Form 375.

Moving on.

Adams' form was apparently delayed (No clue why), which in turn delayed his appointment, leading to a separate letter from Ickes, authorizing Adams to photograph "on Indian reservations, reclamation projects and National Parks."  That's the letter from my last entry.  It's dated prior to this one; but Western Union, while not quite so quick as e-mail, would have beaten the last letter to Adams, even if it was sent by air mail.

Form 375? Whoops!

A Golden Ticket

Apologies to Roald Dahl and fans of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Willie Wonka, to movie buffs), but today's entry is Ansel Adams' "golden ticket" to the U.S. Department of the Interior.

This is Secretary Harold Ickes' September 30, 1941 letter of introduction to the "Officers and Employees [of the] Department of the Interior."  With it, Adams is granted entrée to "reclamation projects, Indian reservations, national parks, and" (my personal favorite) "other places under the jurisdiction of this Department."

I wonder if he ever had to present it to anyone.  Or, was his experience a bit more like buying beer on your 21st birthday and having no one ID you?

A Golden Ticket

NARA Replies

If nothing else, I had an excellent phone call today.  An archivist from NARA (The National Archives and Records Administration, A.K.A. The National Archives) phoned to respond to my inquiry about Ansel Adams contract with Interior.

He doesn't have it.

However, we chatted for a bit about the missing elements in the Adams correspondence stream that I've been posting here.  He suggested that I try the Library of Congress and the Ickes archive there.

I did not know there was an Ickes archive at the Library of Congress -- until now.

Alternatively, he also suggested that if Ickes forwarded any of the correspondence to FDR, it might be housed in his presidential library & museum in Hyde Park, NY.

Ah, anyone out there planning an outing to the LofC or the FDR Museum? 

NARA Replies

Paying his Freight

So, when the Secretary of the Interior calls, Ansel Adams hops a train.  That much is plain from history.

But who pays?
The Secretary, or rather C.C. Davison, Acting Chief Clerk, paying from the Department's till, which I suppose means that my grandparents picked up the tab (or some tiny fraction of it, divided among the taxpaying public). 

They might have quibbled about Adams' claim of a big-time, luxury, Pullman, round-trip, sleeper-car fare from Lexington to DC; but they didn't know that the Mural Project images would be the eventual result.

One might note mention of plans of the Interior Building and the locations of existing murals.  I wonder where Adams imagined his murals might go, when he first saw the building plans.  In the entryway?  In personal offices?  Open bays?  The halls?

Paying his Freight