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Kent, Frederick W.

 Person

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 1 Collection or Record:

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

Filtered By

  • Subject: Theater -- Study and teaching X