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James Madison University Libraries Special Collections
820 Madison DriveMSC 1706
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807
Telephone: (540) 568-3612
library-special@jmu.edu
URL: https://www.lib.jmu.edu/special/
Angela L. Walthall, Julia Merkel (updated July 2012)
Administrative Information
Use Restrictions
Copyright status for collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk (library-special@jmu.edu).
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research. The photographic negatives are housed in freezer storage and are not available to researchers. Negatives have been digitized and are accessible via JMU Scholarly Commons (https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/garber/). Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Provenance
Per notes from a meeting between K. B. Getz and Tracy Harter, then-Special Collections Librarian, Garber's widow sold the collection to Paper Treasures Book Store and Gallery in New Market.
Other Formats Available
This collection has been digitized and is available online on JMU Scholarly Commons (https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/garber/).
Preferred Citation
[identification of item], [box #, photograph number/folder #], William Hoyle Garber Photographs, 1930-1960, SC 0318, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.
Acquisition Information
Purchased from local freelance photographer K. B. Getz on October 8, 2009.
Processing Information
A large portion of the negatives in this collection were originally housed together in clear photo album sleeves, with minimal labeling identifying the place, year, or event of the images within that particular sheet. That information has been included in the container chart. It is also important to note that, in several cases, a portion of filmstrip remained uncut that included between two and four images, and so those negatives are housed in the same sleeve. Furthermore, any negatives that were too large for the photograph storage boxes were organized into the "Oversize Negatives" folder in Box 5, as noted in the collection inventory.
The collection number was updated in December 2021 from P 0002 to SC 0318 to 1. align with established manuscript collection numbering scheme with SC prefix and 2. renumber all "photograph" collections with P prefix. The collection title was updated from William Garber Photograph Collection to William Hoyle Garber Photographs to incorporate Garber's middle name by which he was widely known as well as to remove extraneous descriptions within the collection title. At this time, the description was updated with only minor edits. Individual photograph numbers that were assigned during initial processing and digitization were retained. During initial processing, all series were further divided into sub-series. This arrangement was abandoned in December 2021 as that level of granular arrangement in digitized photograph collections does not typically faciliate researcher access or discovery.
Biographical/Historical Note
William Hoyle Garber was born on May 25, 1915 at Mount Clifton, Virginia, to John William and Birdie Lonas Garber. After completing his education in 1933 at the Randolph-Macon Academy in Front Royal, Virginia, he graduated from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia, and married Ethel M. Ritenour on December 24, 1938.
After fighting in the Pacific Theater as a first lieutenant for the United States Army during World War II, Garber held a number of simultaneous occupations and participated in several different organizations. In addition to owning Garber's Photo Shop and being the president of the Garber-Moyers-Johnson Insurance Agency, Garber was a commander and life member of the Massanutten Post No. 2447, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Edinburg; a member of the Mount Jackson Masonic Lodge No. 103, the American Legion Post No. 199 at Woodstock, and Chapter No. 162 of the Order of the Eastern Star, for which he was appointed the very first Worthy Patron of Mount Jackson. Furthermore, he was an active member of the Chamber of Commerce for both Edinburg and Mount Jackson, and he served on the Mount Jackson Town Council for twenty-six years. Of particular relevance to this collection, Garber earned a private pilot's license in 1947, and became known for his aerial photography.
In 1983, William Garber retired and moved from New Market to Mount Jackson, Virginia. During his retirement, he remained active in many of these organizations, and also played a key role in the founding of the Shenandoah County Historical Society in the 1980s. Garber passed away on May 14, 1992 at the Winchester Medical Center at the age of seventy-six, and was buried at Flat Rock Cemetery in Forestville, Virginia.
Scope and Content
The William Hoyle Garber Photographs, 1930-1960, consists of 1.46 cubic feet of material. The bulk of the material was created between 1935 and 1950 and comprises 1705 images including 1615 black and white negatives, 20 color negatives, and 70 prints that were taken and developed by William Garber of Garber's Photo Shop in Mount Jackson, Virginia. The subject matter of the images encompasses the people, places, industries, automobiles, sports, events, disasters, etc., of the northern Shenandoah Valley, Virginia; primarily between the cities of Harrisonburg and Woodstock. The collection is organized into twelve series: Buildings and Places, Industry, Motor Vehicles, Civil and Armed Services, School Photos, Sports and Outdoor Recreation, Horses and Horse Events, Other Events and Entertainment, Accidents and Disasters, Miscellaneous, Aerial Photography, and Photograph Prints.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into 12 topical series: Buildings and Places, Industry, Motor Vehicles, Civil and Armed Services, School Photographs, Sports and Outdoor Recreation, Horses and Horse Events, Other Events and Entertainment, Accidents and Disasters, Miscellaneous, Aerial Photographs, and Print Photographs.
Related Material
Hoyle Garber collection, ca. 1947-ca. 1960, 2017-0007, Truban Archives, Shenandoah County Library, Edinburg, Virginia, USA.
Separated Material
In December 2021, a copy of The National Geographic Magazine (July 1949, volume 96, number 1) was removed from the collection and cataloged individually as part of Special Collections rare book holdings. The issue features an article titled "Appalachian Valley Pilgrimage" by Catherine Bell Palmer, which includes a description of the Shenandoah Valley. The black and white photographs accompanying this article may be the work of Garber, but the photographs are not cited and there are no prints or negatives of those same images within this collection.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
- Getz, K. B.
- Negatives (photographs)
- Photographers -- Virginia -- 20th century
- Photographs
- Rockingham County (Va.) -- History
- Rockingham County (Va.) -- Social life and customs
- Shenandoah County (Va.) -- History
- Shenandoah County (Va.) -- Social life and customs
- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- Aerial photographs
- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- History
- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- Social life and customs
- Virginia -- History
- Virginia -- Social life and customs
Significant Persons Associated With the Collection
- Garber, W. Hoyle (William Hoyle), 1915-1992
- Getz, K. B.
Significant Places Associated With the Collection
- Natural Chimneys (Va.)
- Rockingham County (Va.) -- History
- Rockingham County (Va.) -- Social life and customs
- Shenandoah County (Va.) -- History
- Shenandoah County (Va.) -- Social life and customs
- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- Aerial photographs
- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- History
- Shenandoah River Valley (Va. and W. Va.) -- Social life and customs
- Virginia -- History
- Virginia -- Social life and customs
Container List
Includes 330 negatives documenting auto shops and service stations, stores and restaurants, hotels and tourist attractions, and private homes, and miscellaneous buildings. These images include interior and exterior views of various buildings that offer an interesting perspective on the types of retail businesses and restaurants open in the Shenandoah Valley in the mid-twentieth century. This series also provides noteworthy insight into tourism in the Valley during the same time period.
Consists of 138 negatives documenting mills and the poultry industry. The images in this series may be especially useful to those interested in different aspects of the poultry industry and how Rockingham County was (and perhaps still is) designated as one of the "Turkey Capitals of the World."
Comprises 53 negatives that display a number of both commercial and private motor vehicles. The types of vehicles range from school buses to company trucks to individual, privately owned automobiles.
Includes 114 negatives that document police, fire, and government and military. The images contain portraits of police officers, police on the scene of an accident or crime, storefront views of various fire departments, and open house dinners or events with local fire departments. Views of the Federal Bureau of Mines and the Civilian Conservation Corps in the Shenandoah Valley are also included. Furthermore, this series provides visual documentation of a Spanish War Veterans Reunion held at Orkney Springs sometime between 1930-1950.
Comprises 88 negatives and contains images from four separate schools: Timberville High School, Broadway High School, New Market High School, and Massanutten Military Academy. The school photographs include sports teams, musical performances, students in classrooms, cafeterias, libraries, etc. It is interesting to note that these images were captured prior to the division of elementary and high school grade levels into separate schools in the 1950s.
Comprises 98 negatives portraying various recreational activities popular in the area in the mid-twentieth century. These negatives document baseball, basketball, swimming, track and field, miscellaneous field recreation, and fishing and hunting.
Contains 284 negatives encompassing the importance of horses in the culture of the people in the Valley (or at least among the middle-upper class white population). The Timberville Horse show of 1947 and 1948, the Broadway Horse Show of 1949, the annual tradition of jousting at Natural Chimneys, and horse racing at the Shenandoah County State Fair are all included in this series, along with numerous other miscellaneous equine-related images.
Includes 64 negatives depicting events and forms of entertainment that do not involve sports or horses. Though there are some unidentified images, the most prominent events of this series are John Deere Day, a Gulf Banquet, weddings, and the Shenandoah County Fair.
Consists of 122 negatives documenting automobile accidents, train wrecks, and fires. The automobile accidents include both small, private vehicles and large tractor-trailers. They range from small, harmless accidents to overturned or completely destroyed vehicles. The images of train wrecks display the derailment of a train, while the images of fires culminate in a small number of buildings aflame, with fire fighters on the scene. Many of these photographs may have been taken for insurance purposes since Garber was president of Garbers-Moyers-Johnson Insurance Agency.
Comprises images that do not fall under the previously stated categories. Most are not identifiable. Consisting of 117 negatives, this series documents Esso Motor Oil displays, Jack Reynold's airplane, Meem's Bottom Covered Bridge, the Intersection at Kamp Washington, Fairfax, and unidentified people and places.
Includes 217 negatives of some of Garber's most famous work of the Shenandoah Valley. After becoming a licensed pilot in 1947, he merged his hobby of aviation with his hobby of photography and produced a large number of aerial images. The images document Route 11 through Harrisonburg, the Shenandoah River between New Market and Front Royal, Rockingham Poultry, the Shenandoah County Fair, James Madison University and other academic buildings, Luray, images taken from Jack Reynold's plane, and miscellaneous. Unlike the majority of the collection, the images of the bends in the Shenandoah River are in color.
Comprises all 70 of the photograph prints included in the collection. These images document streetscapes and storefronts, the grocery store and Dr. Pepper, automotive shops, poultry, triplett and vehrencamp trucks, police and fire stations, baseball, Broadway Horse Show, John Deere Day, miscellaneous, and aerial photographs. The only two images of African American people in the entire collection are housed within this series.