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Watson Kintner papers

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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives [Contact Us]3260 South Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6324

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives. 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

Call Number:
1147
Repository:
University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives
Extent:
3 linear feet
Language:
English
Preferred Citation:
[Item name]. Box [Box number]. Watson Kintner papers. Penn Museum Archives. Accessed [Date accessed].
Date:
1933-1969 (inclusive)
Creator:
Kintner, Watson
Form:
Photographs, Photographic prints, travelog (performed works genre), and Travel photography
Abstract:
Watson Kintner, a University of Pennsylvania graduate and a man of means, traveled to more than 30 nations between 1933 until 1969. On his travels Kintner avoided tourist destinations, instead recording the daily life among the peoples visited, as well as sites of archaeological interest. Kintner took photography very seriously, and in the late 1960s and 1970s funded weekend seminars for University of Pennsylvania Museum graduate students. Upon his death, Kintner left an endowment towards various Museum activities and programs. Kintner's travel records consist of three linear feet of journals, film notes, bills, correspondence, and preparatory notes on the culture, geography and history of the countries he visited (and some that he didn't) between 1951 and 1969.

Watson Kintner, CH.E. '16 (1890-1979), was a 1916 University of Pennsylvania graduate in Chemical Engineering. He worked as a chemical engineer with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) until his retirement, where he was an early pioneer in the standardization of the vacuum tube. A man of means, he traveled to more than 30 individual nations over a period of 36 years, from 1933 until 1969. Kintner visited places such as Mexico (where he filmed painter Diego Rivera), Guatemala, Ecuador, Morocco, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Australia, Iran, Ethiopia, and many more. Presumably Kintner's travels were planned for pleasure, though he chose to document each of them on 16mm film.

On his travels Kintner largely avoided the obvious tourist destinations. He instead recorded the daily life and work among the peoples visited, including handicrafts, home industries, dwellings, household arrangements, dress and adornments, agricultural techniques and equipment, local commerce, museums, as well as sites of archaeological interest. For the first three years of his travels he photographed in black-and-white film, and when, in 1936, Eastman Kodak introduced the color stock Kodachrome (a highly stable and color-accurate film) he began to photograph exclusively in color. Kintner also took notes and kept material related to his trips, including financial records, correspondence, and maps.

Kintner took photography very seriously as a discipline that should be applied to field work, and in the late 1960s and early 1970s he funded weekend seminars for University of Pennsylvania Museum graduate students, taught by Life Magazine photographers. Upon his death, Kintner also left an endowment towards various Museum activities and programs.

Watson Kintner's travel records consist of 3 linear feet of journals, film notes, bills, correspondence, and preparatory notes on the culture, geography and history of the countries he visited (and some that he didn't) between 1951 and 1969. He kept documents relating to his trips and took all his notes in triplicate, resulting in a large number of redundant pages, which were discarded. The original order was predominantly chronological, which has been maintained. Folders are arranged by year and country visited.

Photographs have been placed together into a second series at the end of the collection. These photographs are poorly documented but offer further visual information from several of Kintner's trips, beginning with his 1933 visit to Mexico and ending with his 1969 visit to Cyprus. Extraneous personal materials consisting of one Pan-American Airways frequent flyer certificate and two RCA achievement certificates, were removed and donated to the Watson Kintner collection at the University of Pennsylvania Archives.

Additional records of Watson Kintner may be found at the Lancaster County Historical Society (MG-144 The Watson Kintner Collection, 1930-1954) and the University of Pennsylvania Archives (Coll. No. UPT 50, K 51).

People
Organization

Publisher
University of Pennsylvania: Penn Museum Archives
Finding Aid Author
William Griscom and Alessandro Pezzati
Finding Aid Date
8/2009
Use Restrictions

Although many items from the archives are in the public domain, copyright may be retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. The user is fully responsible for compliance with relevant copyright law.

Collection Inventory

Scope and Contents

Notes and other materials from Kintner's numerous trips. Includes correspondence, itineraries, financial records, preparatory notes on culture and geography, and notes from films taken during his travels. Arranged chronologically and by trip.

1. Morocco, 1951-Postcards.
Box 1
2. Indonesia, Ceylon and India, 1955-Preparatory Notes.
Box 1
3. Indonesia, Ceylon and India, 1955-Ceylon Itinerary.
Box 1
4. Indonesia, Ceylon and India, 1955-Photo Log and Film Notes.
Box 1
5. Indonesia, Ceylon and India, 1955-Film Notes - Botanical Gardens.
Box 1
7. Indonesia, Ceylon and India, 1955-Diaries, 5-8.
Box 1
8. Indonesia, Ceylon and India, 1955-Postcards.
Box 1
9. Nepal, 1957 Notebook.
Box 1
10. Laos and Cambodia, 1957 Notebook.
Box 1
11. Australia and New Guinea, 1957 Notebooks.
Box 1
12. 1957 Miscellaneous Notebooks.
Box 1
13. 1957 Diary.
Box 1
6. Indonesia, Ceylon and India, 1955-Diaries, 1-4.
Box 1
14. 1957 Film Notes, 1-4.
Box 1
1. 1957 Film Notes, 5-8.
Box 2
2. India, 1959 Notebooks, 1-5.
Box 2
3. India, 1959 Notebooks, 9-10, and Photo Log.
Box 2
4. India, 1959 Miscellaneous Notebooks.
Box 2
5. Australia, 1961 Preparatory Notes.
Box 2
6. East Africa, 1961 Correspondence.
Box 2
7. East Africa, 1961 Preparatory Notes (1 of 3).
Box 2
8. East Africa, 1961 Preparatory Notes (2 of 3).
Box 2
9. East Africa, 1961 Preparatory Notes (3 of 3).
Box 2
10. 1961 Film Notes, 1-4.
Box 2
11. 1967 Film Notes, 5-7.
Box 2
1. East Africa, 1961.
Box 3
2. Iran, 1963 Itinerary.
Box 3
3. Iran, 1963 Preparatory Notes (1 of 2).
Box 3
4. Iran, 1963 Preparatory Notes (2 of 2).
Box 3
5. Iran, 196 Film Notes and Photo Log.
Box 3
6. Iran, 1963 Tehran Notebook.
Box 3
7. Iran, 1963 Notes on Southern Nomads.
Box 3
8. Iran, 1963 Miscellaneous Notes.
Box 3
9. Iraq, 1963 Correspondence.
Box 3
10. Iraq, 1963 Itinerary.
Box 3
11. Iraq, 1963 Preparatory Notes (1 of 3).
Box 3
12. Iraq, 1963 Preparatory Notes (2 of 3).
Box 3
13. Iraq, 1963 Preparatory Notes (3 of 3).
Box 3
14. Yemen, 1965-Correspondence.
Box 3
15. Afghanistan, 1965-Itinerary.
Box 3
16. Afghanistan, 1965-Bills.
Box 3
17. Afghanistan, 1965-Preparatory Notes (1 of 2).
Box 3
18. Afghanistan, 1965-Preparatory Notes (2 of 2).
Box 3
19. Japan, 1965-Itinerary.
Box 3
1. Japan, 1965-Correspondence on Silk and Pearl Culture.
Box 4
2. Japan, 1965-Preparatory Notes (1 of 3).
Box 4
3. Japan, 1965-Preparatory Notes (2 of 3).
Box 4
4. Japan, 1965-Preparatory Notes (3 of 3).
Box 4
5. Japan, 1965-Pearl Culture Notes.
Box 4
6. Japan, 1965-Kiln Tunnel Notes.
Box 4
7. Japan, 1965-Postcards and Maps.
Box 4
Japan, 1965-List of films [photocopy].
Box 4
8. 1965-Film Notes, 1-4.
Box 4
9. 1965-Film Notes, 5-6, and miscellaneous notebooks.
Box 4
10. Algeria, 1967-Correspondence.
Box 4
11. Niger, 1967-Correspondence.
Box 4
12. Niger, 1967-Shipping Lists.
Box 4
14. Niger, 1967-Preparatory Notes.
Box 4
13. Niger, 1967-Bills.
Box 4
1. Chad, 1967-Correspondence.
Box 5
2. Chad, 1967-Preparatory Notes.
Box 5
3. Tunisia, 1967-Correspondence.
Box 5
4. Tunisia, 1967-Preparatory Notes (1 of 2).
Box 5
5. Tunisia, 1967-Preparatory Notes (2 of 2).
Box 5
6. Tunisia, 1967-Road Maps.
Box 5
7. Tunisia, 1967-Baggage Claims.
Box 5
8. Turkey, 1967-Correspondence.
Box 5
9. Turkey, 1967-Preparatory Notes (1 of 3).
Box 5
10. Turkey, 1967-Preparatory Notes (2 of 3).
Box 5
11. Turkey, 1967-Preparatory Notes (3 of 3).
Box 5
12. 1967-Film Notes.
Box 5
13. 1967-Plane Tickets.
Box 5
1. 1967-Notebooks, 1-4.
Box 6
2. 1967-Notebooks, 5-8.
Box 6
3. 1967-Notebooks, 9-7, and Photo Log.
Box 6
4. Burma, 1968-Correspondence.
Box 6
5. India, 1968-Correspondence.
Box 6
6. Ethiopia, 1969-Correspondence.
Box 6
7. Ethiopia, 1969-Bills.
Box 6
8. Ethiopia, 1969-Description of Trip.
Box 6
9. Ethiopia, 1969-Preparatory Notes (1 of 2).
Box 6
10. Ethiopia, 1969-Preparatory Notes (2 of 2).
Box 6
11. Ethiopia, 1969-Postcards.
Box 6
12. Cyprus, 1969-Correspondence.
Box 6
13. Cyprus, 1969-Bills.
Box 6
14. Lebanon, 1969-Correspondence.
Box 6
15. Lebanon, 1969-Baalbek Notes.
Box 6
1. Syria, 1969-Preparatory Notes.
Box 7
2. Jordan, 1969-Correspondence.
Box 7
3. Jordan, 1969-Preparatory Notes (1 of 2).
Box 7
4. Jordan, 1969-Preparatory Notes (2 of 2).
Box 7
5. Israel, 1969-Correspondence.
Box 7
6. Egypt, 1969-Saint Catherine Monastery Notes.
Box 7
7. 1969-Notebooks, 1-3, and Photo Log.
Box 7
8. 1969-Notebooks, 4-7, and Industry Notes.
Box 7
9. 1969-Film Notes.
Box 7

Scope and Contents

Photographs taken by Kintner, friends and family relating to his travels. Also includes individual and family portraits. Arranged according to trip when possible, and otherwise by content.

10. Mexico, 1939 .
Box 7
11. Ecuador, 1949-Photos and Correspondence.
Box 7
12. Iraq, 1963 .
Box 7
13. Ethiopia, 1969 .
Box 7
14. Cyprus, 1969 .
Box 7
15. Watson Kintner Portraits.
Box 7
16. Family Photos and Correspondence from Aunt Floy.
Box 7
17. Photos and Correspondence from Friends.
Box 7

Scope and Contents

Ten items. Published maps annotated by Kintner during his travels.

Michelin Map of North-East Africa, 1966 1:4.000,000 (34 1/2 x 39).
Drawer M-47
Road Map of Iran Tourist Iran Co. General Dept. of Publications and Broadcasting Tehran, Iran (27x19) (2 maps).
Drawer M-47
Maps of Bali Political Maps, 1955 (9x6) (4 maps).
Drawer M-47
Turkey Road Map BP Touring Service, 1962 (31x18).
Drawer M-47
Shell Oil Map of Turkey 1:1.860,000 1963 (36 1/2 x 19).
Drawer M-47
Tourist Map of Turkey Ministry of Tourism and Information (39 1/2 x 19 1/2).
Drawer M-47
16mm Motion Picture Films 1933-1969.
Scope and Contents

408 items. See separate list. See also http://www.archive.org/details/UPMAA_films. Arranged by date and reel number.

Print, Suggest