Harry Reuben Reynolds Photograph Collection
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Harry Reuben Reynolds was born to Alex and Dora Reynolds on January 29, 1898. In 1923 he joined the art staff at Utah State Agricultural College. He spent the next forty-seven years with the University teaching a variety of classes such as photography, history of art, painting, art education, jewelry, crafts, and design. Over time, however, he focused on photography and experimentation with color photography.
Reynolds’ service to the University extended beyond his teaching load. He was an advisor for the Buzzer student yearbook and he served as the first USU Art Gallery Curator (now the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art) in 1967. Reynolds tirelessly promoted art appreciation and education throughout Utah through exhibitions, lectures, and serving on numerous committees. Professor Reynolds died on March 10, 1974 in Logan.
The Harry Reuben Reynolds Photograph Collection consists of black and white and color negatives, transparencies, and prints. Most of these images document Utah State University campus buildings and activities from the 1930s through the late 1960s (many of which were published in the Buzzer yearbooks). Also included are examples of Reynolds’s pioneering use of photographic documentation for scientific and agricultural studies as well as images of Cache Valley; Southern Utah; Bear Lake; Mesa, Arizona; Santa Barbara, California; Park City, Utah; and Salt Lake City, Utah. Portraiture, still life studies, photographic color studies, art classes and workshops, personal photographs (many with the Stark family at Christmas), and various theater productions round out the remainder of the collection. The physical collection is housed in USU’s Special Collections & Archives.