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John Farson III Photograph Albums of the Evans School
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
John Farson III was born 1908 in New York City, N. Y. to John Farson, Jr. and Pearl Laverty Farson. During his secondary education, he attended the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, the Evans School in Arizona, and Phillips Academy Andover in Massachusetts. He had a younger brother, Rodney Farson (1910-1934), who also attended Andover.
Consists of two photograph albums belonging to John Farson III documenting his preparatory school years at the Evans School in Arizona from 1925 to 1926. There are some photographs from the beginning of his senior year of high school in 1926 at Phillips Academy Andover in Massachusetts.
The 1925-1926 album has an index pasted to the inside cover describing places, contents, and names of people. Primarily consisting of photographs of the Evans School in Tucson, Arizona, which Farson refers to as 3R Ranch, there are other locations depicted in this album as well, including Guaymas, Hermosillo, and Nogales in Mexico; Tanque Verde Waterfall and Tanque Verde Canyon; Youtcy Canyon; downtown Tucson, Arizona and several other towns in Arizona (Tempe, Ash Fork, Cameron, etc.). Other locales include the Rincon Mountains, Tumacacori Mission, and Fresnel Ranch.
Photographs of these various places primarily consist of landscapes, train stations, and town- and cityscapes, where Farson photographed some of the buildings and people. There are also photographs of La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros and the April Vaquero Contest.
The photographs of the Evans School in Tucson, which Farson refers to as 3R Ranch, include pictures of Evancoyd, where Henry David Evans and his wife lived, the school grounds, cabins, buildings, and surrounding landscapes, as well as photographs of the students, their horses, and the faculty. There are photographs documenting the "school movie" being filmed with portraits of people in costume and acting in scenes. This movie was mentioned in Sybil Ellinwood's article for the Autumn 1974 issue of The Journal of Arizona History as being "The Cowboy's Treasure," written and directed by two Harvard graduates, Gerald Courtney and Herbert A. Woodbury, who were on the faculty in 1926.
The second photograph album documents the summer of 1926, when Farson finished up his time at the Evans School and began his senior year at Phillips Academy Andover. During the summer months, Evans School students spend their time in Flagstaff, Arizona going on field trips to archaeological sites and Native American reservations. Photographs show archaeological dig sites; landscapes of scenery, rock formations, and vistas in Grand Canyon National Park; school grounds and cabins; and photographs of a ceremony performed by Hopi people.
There are some beachside or waterside photographs from July to August, which appear to be back on the East Coast. There are photographs of people golfing and kayaking, and people who may be family and/or friends. The album ends with photographs of Andover campus grounds, including buildings, a chapel, an athletic field, school events, dormitory interiors, and individual and group photographs of classmates and friends. Some of the photographs on campus include progress photos of a building's construction. The album ends with two photographs of John Farson III in naval uniform.
One of the photograph albums has two photographs of human skeletal remains at an archaeological excavation site, likely conducted on Hopi land.
Materials are arranged in the order in which they were received.
Purchased from Kevin Jackson in September 2022 (AM 2023-100).
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This collection was processed by Amy C. Vo in December 2023. Finding aid written by Amy C. Vo in December 2023, with some contextual information provided by Sybil Ellinwood's article, "East Meets West in the Field of Education," in the Autumn 1974 issue of The Journal of Arizona History.
No materials were removed from the collection during 2023 processing.
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Amy C. Vo
- Finding Aid Date
- 2023
- Access Restrictions
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This collection is open for research.
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