Hans Groenhoff Photographic Collection Melissa A. N. Keiser 2019 National Air and Space Museum Archives 14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway Chantilly, VA 20151 [email protected] https://airandspace.si.edu/archives Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Scope and Contents........................................................................................................ 2 Biographical/Historical note.............................................................................................. 2 Arrangement..................................................................................................................... 2 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 3 Container Listing ............................................................................................................. 4 Series : Series 1: 1962 Acquisition, 1933-1962....................................................... 4 Series : Series 2: 1984 Acquisition (HGB), (bulk circa late 1950s to early 1970s)................................................................................................................... 101 Series : Series 3: "Focus On Flight" Exhibit and Book Materials, circa 1984-1985............................................................................................................. 103 Hans Groenhoff Photographic Collection NASM.XXXX.0359 Collection Overview Repository: National Air and Space Museum Archives Title: Hans Groenhoff Photographic Collection Identifier: NASM.XXXX.0359 Date: 1933-1975 Extent: 5.27 Cubic feet (41 boxes) Creator: Groenhoff, Hans Language: English . Summary: Hans Groenhoff (1906-1985) was a celebrated American aviation photographer from the 1930s through the 1960s, also working as a pilot, journalist, editor, correspondent, and—in his retirement years —as an aviation tourism publicist for the Bahamas. This collection of 25,550 images consists of Groenhoff's collection of negatives and transparencies, spanning his career from 1933 to 1975. Administrative Information Acquisition Information Hans Groenhoff, Purchase, 1962, 1984, NASM.XXXX.0359, NASM Processing Information Initial arrangement and description by Kristine L. Kaske-Martin, 2005. Encoded by Rihoko Ueno, January 2012. Revised arrangement and description by Melissa A. N. Keiser, 2019. Preferred Citation Hans Groenhoff Photographic Collection, Acc. XXXX.0359, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. Restrictions Physical access to film originals (negatives, transparencies, and slides) requires notice a minimum of two business days in advance of visit to allow for retrieval of materials from cold storage. Page 1 of 104 Hans Groenhoff Photographic Collection NASM.XXXX.0359 Conditions Governing Use Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests. Biographical Note Hans Groenhoff (1906-1985) was born and educated in Germany, but emigrated to the United States in 1927. Residing in New York City, Groenhoff pursued his interest in aviation and photography. Following in the footsteps of his brother Günther, a famous aviator and pioneer glider pilot in Germany, Hans Groenhoff became an active glider pilot in the nearby Elmira, New York, area, nurturing a lifelong fascination with clouds and aerial photography. Groenhoff's photography career took off when he inherited two cameras following the death of his brother in a glider accident in 1932; he went on to work as a photographer, journalist, editor, and correspondent, with his photographs and articles published in mainstream magazines such as Life, Colliers, Esquire, National Geographic, and The Saturday Evening Post, as well as aviation publications such as Air Trails Pictorial, Sportsman Pilot, Aero Digest, and especially Flying and Popular Aviation, for whom he was a regular correspondent. Groenhoff also shot advertising and publicity photography for aircraft manufacturers and the U.S. Army Air Forces. Following the death of his first wife, Fridel Barth, in 1954, Groenhoff moved to the Miami, Florida, area to take advantage of better weather for photographing aircraft. In 1956, Groenhoff married Frances Semman, who assisted him in his work. In his retirement years, Groenhoff was employed by the Bahamas Government to promote the Islands as a tourist destination for private and sport aviation, founding their popular "Bahamas Flying Treasure Hunt" events which ran annually for several years. Hans Groenhoff's aviation photography career is documented in the book Focus on Flight: The Aviation Photography of Hans Groenhoff by E. T. Woodridge (Smithsonian Institution, 1985). Scope and Contents This collection consists of Groenhoff's collection of negatives and transparencies, spanning his career from 1933 to 1975, and includes images of military and civilian aircraft and events, glider and sailplane activities, air shows and races, airlines and airports, weather (clouds) and aerial images. Arrangement Series 1: 1962 Acquisition, approximately 24,250 images; photography made by Groenhoff in the period 1933 to 1962, consists of mixed medium format black-and-white negative single-sheet or cut-frame roll film (Subseries 1, HGA), 35mm black-and-white roll film (Subseries 2, HGD), and mixed medium format color transparency (positive) film (Subseries 3, HGC), as well as black-and-white print enlargements made by the Smithsonian of selected images. Also included in this series are a small number of posed portraits of Groenhoff at work. Series 2: 1984 Acquisition (HGB), approximately 1,300 images; photography made by Groenhoff in the 1960s and 1970s, primarily during his employment with the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, consists of mixed format black-and-white and color roll film and a small number of 35mm color slides. Page 2 of 104 Hans Groenhoff Photographic Collection NASM.XXXX.0359 Series 3: "Focus On Flight" Exhibit and Book Materials. This small series consists of mixed materials (copy photography and documents) used in the creation of the NASM exhibit, Focus on Flight: Four Decades of Aerial Photography (Rudy Arnold and Hans Groenhoff) (November 1984 through September 1985), and the related book by curator E. T. (Tim) Wooldridge, Focus on Flight: The Aviation Photography of Hans Groenhoff, published for the National Air and Space Museum by Smithsonian Institution Press (Washington, D.C.), 1985. Names and Subject Terms This collection is indexed in the online catalog of the Smithsonian Institution under the following terms: Subjects: Aerial photography Aeronautics Aeronautics -- Competitions Aeronautics, Commercial -- United States Aeronautics, Military Air pilots Airlines Airports Airships Gliders Seaplanes Women air pilots World War, 1939-1945 Types of Materials: Aerial Photographs Photographs Names: Groenhoff, Hans Page 3 of 104 Series 1: 1962 Acquisition Hans Groenhoff Photographic Collection NASM.XXXX.0359 Container Listing Series 1: 1962 Acquisition, 1933-1962 Subseries 1: Black and White Sheet Film (HGA) Mixed group of 4 x 5 inch, 2.25 x 3.25 inch, and 2.25 x 2.25 inch black-and-white negative sheet film (or cut frames of roll film), with some single-frame negatives cut from 35mm black-and-white negative roll film. NOTE: While this is predominantly a black-and-white subseries, it does include some 4 x 5 inch, 2.25 x 3.25 inch, and 2.25 x 2.25 inch color transparency (positive) film. A small selection of images from this subseries have been digitized as examples. HGA Film Section The film is arranged in numerical order by image number. Note that boxes in this section are titled with number ranges; not all individual numbers within a given range may have a corresponding piece of film. Occasionally a single piece of film contains two frames—in these cases, each frame has been numbered separately but the film is housed in a single envelope. Subjects appear to be in groups that probably reflect Groenhoff's original subject headings; aircraft tend to be grouped by manufacturer and model. A partial subject listing—probably created by National Air Museum in 1962—has been used to add subjects to the box listing below. Box 1 HGA Sheet Film, HGA-100001 to HGA-100499 Box 1, Folder 1 Sport Gliders, HGA-100001 to HGA-100499 Image(s) Box 2 HGA Sheet Film, HGA-100500 to HGA-101050 Box 2, Folder 1 Sport Gliders, HGA-100500 to HGA-100858 Box 2, Folder 2 Military Gliders (1 of 2), HGA-100859 to HGA-101050 Box 3 HGA Sheet Film, HGA-101051 to HGA-101799 Subjects in this box include "Old Engines", Lockheed P-38 Lightning aircraft, Goodyear airships, the Aircraft Industries Association, the National Business Aircraft Association, and "People in Aviation." Box 3, Folder 1 Military Gliders (2 of 2), HGA-101051 to HGA-101127 Box 3, Folder 2 Old Engines, HGA-101128 to HGA-101148 Image(s) Box 3, Folder 3 HGA-101149 to HGA-101649 not indexed Box 3, Folder 4 Aircraft Industries Association, HGA-101650 to HGA-101697 Page 4 of 104 Series 1: 1962 Acquisition Hans Groenhoff Photographic Collection NASM.XXXX.0359 Box 3, Folder 5 HGA-101698 not indexed Box 3, Folder 6 National Business Aircraft Association, HGA-101699 to HGA-101747 Box 3, Folder 7 People in