Kent, Frederick W.

Person

Staff Only

Dates

Existence: 1894-1984

Biography

Frederick Wallace Kent (February 3, 1894-July 17, 1984) was a lecturer and instructor in photography at the University from 1923 until 1925. He was the curator of photographic apparatus, and the consulting photographer, from 1936 until 1947. Mr. Kent founded University Photo Service, and was manager from 1947 until 1963. He served as a part-time photographer of special projects with Photo Service for the next twelve years, retiring in 1975. The importance of Fred Kent's work goes beyond his many years of producing student's graduation photos and recording sporting events. His detailed photographs of the 1922 restoration of Old Capitol on the University of Iowa campus aided in subsequent restorations of the building. Mr. Kent photographed everyday scenes and the extraordinary. The Daily Iowan newspaper reported on November 23, 1934, that Mr. Kent designed a new camera to quickly and inexpensively photograph material for screen projection, improving upon the Recordak machine. He pioneered the use of stereographs in medicine, producing three-dimensional pictures for doctors. In 1947, Eastman Kodak commissioned him to write the first manual for medical photography. Mr. Kent also holds the honor of first recipient of the Iowa City Historic Preservation Commission Award in 1984 for documenting the growth of the area through his photographs. Of the tens of thousands of images he created, Mr. Kent considered his most famous to be the now ubiquitous pose of Nile Kinnick ready to pass the football, which Mr. Kent recorded in 1939, the year Kinnick was named All-American. A portion of Mr. Kent's collection was transferred to University Archives from the Center for Media Production. Additional Kent images of Iowa and Iowa City are located at the State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City.

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records:

Frederick W. Kent Film Collection

Collection

Identifier: RG30.0005.003

Scope and Contents

The films depict various activities on the State University of Iowa campus during the late 1920's and early 1930's as recorded by Frederick W. Kent, photographer of university events for over 50 years. Each entry listed below in the Box Contents List describes the contents of each individual DVD by the same title. The DVDs are digital representations of the original films, which did not contain sound tracks. The DVD copies of these films are individually cataloged (described in InfoHawk) and are housed in the University Archives' cataloged section. The entire collection is also available for viewing online as part of the Iowa Digital Library. Each film may also be accessed online by clicking on the linked title shown below in the Box Contents List.

Dates: 1928 - 1934

Found in: University of Iowa Archives

Frederick W. Kent Photograph Collection

Collection

Identifier: RG30.0001.001

Scope and Contents The Frederick W. Kent Collection of Photographs is comprised of about 50,000 prints and negatives. The collection relates to most areas of the University of Iowa, including individuals, departments, and buildings, and it visually documents nearly every decade of University life since classes commenced in 1855. The majority of the images are dated between 1880 and 1980. In addition to University images, the collection includes approximately 2,000 images of commercial and residential structures off-campus in Iowa City, Iowa.Note: The following inventory lists, where available, categories under which prints and negatives in the Frederick W. Kent Collection may be found. The number of prints or negatives in each category will range from as few as one to as many as 100 or more. For two sub-series - Faculty and Staff, and Students - there are no categories; in each case, individual items are arranged alphabetically by name. For the Theatre sub-series, photographs are arranged...

Dates: 1866-2000; Majority of material found within 1880-1980