Robert Yarnall Richie was born on July 20, 1908 to Quaker parents, Elisha Roberts Richie and Anna Sweltser Wood in Moorestown, New Jersey. Photography was a hobby for Richie when he was a boy. He developed an interest in flying and got his pilot’s license in 1928. Although he knew little about it, he started his professional career in 1932 at the age of 23 with aerial photography, which was at the time something of a novelty. Initially, pay was relatively low for his photographs, but Richie’s work soon became in demand, and by 1938, he was called, "…one of the foremost industrial photographers in the world."
From the beginning, Richie was creative in his approach to business. During the early 1930s, many of the wealthy spent winters at their Palm Beach, Florida estates and summers at their million dollar mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. Richie spoke to the editor of
Richie soon recognized that profit in photography came from repeat business. He also decided to diversify, particularly into advertising and industrial photography. Richie initially used an aerial camera with 5 x 7-inch roll film and sometimes a smaller format camera using 120, 116 or 616 film. Later, he acquired a Linhof 4 x 5-inch view camera with several lenses of different focal lengths – sometimes 165 to 275 pounds of equipment to carry on assignments. One of his earliest commercial clients was Corning Glass Works.
Richie produced his first film in 1939 while in Colombia on an assignment for
As a pioneer in the field, he excelled in making artistic views of corporate industrial subjects in a mid-century modernist style. Richie often took unusual angle shots creating dramatic photographs of what could have been mundane subjects.
Richie was married three times and had six children. Robert Yarnall Richie never retired and passed away in 1984 at age 76.
Selected Publications:
Selected Robert Yarnall Richie citations for photographs published in periodicals and magazines and annual reports for numerous clients.
Harry Botsford, "Key to the Oil Treasure,"
T. Huntington Chappell, "The Hotchkiss School, American Schools No. 6,"
Jack Gilles, "In view of the length of the flight ---,"
"His Camera earns over $500 a day,"
"His Camera Busy Dramatizing Industry,"
"The Incredible Barco,"
"Life’s Pictures,"
"Oil Offers More Romance Than Steel, Says Photographer,"
"Our Airman Flies Low Over the Palacios of Tropical Palm Beach,"
Phillips Petroleum Company,
"Robin Sherwood,"
"Robert Yarnall Richie: A top man in a tough field, Bob Richie knows and thinks industry, will tackle any project anywhere and at any time."
"Shooting the unshootable. How to photograph both the Statue of Liberty and the Verranzo Narrows Bridge in one shot, and make history in the process,"
T. J. Maloney, editor,
"Texas Tanks,"
The Richie Collection is arranged into eight series by subject and size. In naming the boxes and series, Richie’s wording for subjects has often been included along with other terminology for clarification.
Series 1 mostly consists of smaller black and white photographic prints: 4 x 5, 5 x 7, 8 x 10, and 11 x 14-inches. In the higher negative number series, there are also some color transparencies and color negatives.
Series 2 consists of black and white contact prints mounted on client job cards. The client job cards are arranged by negative number and have contact prints mounted on board with information regarding the company for whom Richie was making the photographs, location and date.
Series 3 contains color slides and transparencies, both 35mm and 2 ¼ by 2 ¼-inch.
Series 4 consists of manuscripts including some correspondence, client release forms, magazine clippings, personal photographs of Richie, and a scrapbook entitled,
Series 5 contains oversized prints.
Series 6 is made up of negatives. The negative sleeves often have important information about the client, location and date the negatives were made. Most of the negatives are black and white 4 x 5-inch, but there are substantial numbers of 5 x 7, and some 35mm and 2 ¼ by 2 ¼-inch. In the 1940s, Richie used a "K" after negative numbers to reference Kodachrome color transparencies. The "E" after later negative numbers stands for color Ektachrome film.
Series 7 consists of motion picture film reels in various formats.
Series 8 is a listing of Richie’s clients mainly taken from his index cards arranged alphabetically by client giving the date, and location of work.
Subjects within the collection include:
Automotive
Aviation
Banking
Chemicals
Clouds
Construction
Locations/travel
Mining
Oil & gas/petroleum and refineries, including Arabian oil
Railroads: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; American Locomotive; Association of American Railroads (AAR); Celanese Corporation; Baldwin Locomotive Works; Baltimore & Ohio; Bethlehem Steel; Budd Company; Burlington Lines; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; Ethyl Corporation; Erie Railroad; General Motors; Great Northern; Kennecott Copper Company; Louisville & Nashville Railroad, Monsanto Chemical Company; New York Central; Railway Express; Seaboard Railroad; Seatrain; Susquehanna; Southern Pacific; Southern Railway; Southern Peru Copper Company; Texas & Pacific; Texas Gulf Sulfur; Union Tank Car
Ships
Steel
The collection is organized into 8 series. Due to size, this inventory has been divided into two separate units which can be accessed by clicking on the highlighted text.
Everett L. DeGolyer, Jr. collection of United States railroad photographs, Ag1982.0232
Everette L. DeGolyer, Sr. papers, Mss 60
Richard Steinheimer photograph collection, Ag1982.0233
The
Collection is open for research use.
Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the DeGolyer Library.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.
This collection is indexed under the following terms in the Southern Methodist University Libraries' online catalog. Researchers desiring related materials may search the catalog using these terms.
Robert Yarnall Richie photograph collection, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.
Purchase, DeGolyer Foundation, 1976.
The Richie Collection has been sorted by client and subject using Richie’s categories. Richie’s numerous index cards with client information were typed into a client list, Series 8, by Matthew Constantinesco.
Matthew Constantinesco with editing and contributions by Anne E. Peterson, 2010.
Lara Corazalla, 2011.
The list was compiled from Richie’s index cards listing clients, locations and dates photographs were made. Additions have been made as updated information became available from negatives sleeves and notations verso of prints.
Due to size, this series is split over two parts. This is part two (M-Z). To return to part one (A-L) and series 1 through 7, click the link at the end of this part.