The Living Insignia materials form a small but significant part of the E. O. Goldbeck Collection. Born in 1892, Eugene O. Goldbeck was a commercial photographer whose career spanned the better part of the twentieth century. San Antonio, Texas, was both his hometown and the headquarters of his business, which he eventually called the National Photo and News Service. In addition to photographing important events and scenes both locally and around the world, he specialized in large scale group portraits, often of military units. Among his military photographs, the Living Insignia projects are of particular interest. The soldiers of a selected division were posed so as to form a representation of the division's insignia when seen from the vantage point of a tower built for the occasion. Careful planning and preparation went into the production of each image.

The materials are arranged chronologically by the date on which the insignia formations were photographed. There are 11 different insignias represented in the collection, ranging in time from 1925 to 1947. The groups involved in creating these images ranged in size from 1,300 soldiers at Kelly Field to almost 22,000 at Lackland Air Force Base. The participating units were stationed in Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, New York, and Hawaii, among other places. In general, the materials include plans in pencil and/or ink, blueprints, glass, safety and nitrate negatives, and both vintage gelatin silver and modern prints, although the types of materials present for each insignia vary. For example, the Hawaiian Division Living Insignia of 1926 is represented by everything from preliminary plans to negatives and prints (the Hawaiian Division also has two entries--one for 1926 and one for 1932.). On the other hand, the collection contains only a plan and two maps relating to the 1st Cavalry Division of 1940. The nitrate negatives are in either banquet or panoramic format. While there are prints of some of the banquet negatives, prints of the panoramic negatives are not available. Prints are vintage unless noted otherwise.

For two of the insignias, the 2nd Division of 1925 and the 35th Infantry Regiment of 1933, the copyright is shown as belonging to someone other than Goldbeck.

The following are abbreviations used in the finding aid: LI=living insignia NV=nitrate vault OV=oversize

For more information on E.O. Goldbeck, two books are available:

Burleson, Clyde W. and E. Jessica Hickman. . Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, 1986. (TR 661 B87 1986 HRC-P)

Davenport, Marguerite. . San Antonio, Tex.: Trinity University Press, 1981. (TR 140 G64 D28 HRC-P)