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"These various Dogtowns, now mostly abandoned, are in San Joaquin, Mono, Mariposa, Calavaras, and Glenn counties, California."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"With Ruwedel's artists' books, social commentary may masquerade as humorous visual anecdote. What is the $40.00 difference referred to in the title? The left facing photo shows a green panel truck, “2 Maids Cleaning – Commercial & Residential – $59,” while the right facing page shows a hot pink panel truck, “Topless Maids – $99.” The humor and despair of life in contemporary Southern California is presented via a very simple and straightforward book design."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

This album of proof sheets for stereoview cards was manufactured by the H.C. White Company. The album contains 1421 original photographs and 425 differend views. Some of the photos have "T.W. Ingersoll, Jan 1906" written in pencil below the image, suggesting that he was a photographer for H.C. White Company at the time. The subjects of the photos are wide ranging, including public buildings and famous tourist attractions including Canterbury Cathedral, Shakespeare's birthplace, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, as well as rural scenes, street life, and harbor views. [Adapted from dealer description]

Images documenting "Judea" Holy Week celebrations of the Cora people of Nayarit, Mexico

Album consists of a total of 466 images on 56 leaves + inside front cover, including at least 18 real photo postcards (RPPCs), 17 photographs or RPPCs of cartoons and one photo of a map. Sizes vary: most approximately 3 x 4 inches or 3 x 5 inches, although a handful are substantially smaller (1.5 x 2.5 in.) or larger (6.5 x 8.5 in.). An estimated 135 photographs and RPPCs appear to have been commercially produced for tourists, either because they have captions in the plate or because they show typical scenes of the place being visited, usually empty of people and/or without named subjects; sometimes these are also of a different quality or were taken at a different time of year than the vernacular photographs of the same place. All photos either captioned in white on the leaves by the compiler or captioned in the plate; additional writing in pencil to the backs of some photos. The album is in largely chronological order, following our unnamed sailor's service aboard the USS Albany (1921-23?), detailing his time spent in the Philippines, Hong Kong, various locales in China, and Vladivostok; Huron (1924), travels in China; Pecos (1924-25?), Panama Canal/ Canal Zone; Quail (1926-27), Canal Zone, Ecuador, and Nicaragua; and Langley (1927-29?), San Diego. At all of these locations, the photographs capture fascinating details of shipboard life, from a raucous 1925 Neptune ceremony during the crossing of the equator aboard the USS Pecos, to battle practice aboard the USS Huron, to a seaplane's failed landing on the USS Langley, the first aircraft carrier in US history. Additionally, they provide a striking record of the places visited and the interactions of the area's inhabitants with US troops. This is particularly notable in Russia and China, where the considerable majority of the photos were taken and/or acquired. Vladivostok in 1922 was a last holdout against the revolutionary Red Army, finally becoming part of Soviet Russia in November of that year, after the last of interventionist forces from Japan, China and the US (who had troops on active duty there from the Albany from 1919-1920) departed and the White Army resistance collapsed. Included in the album are images of the city's YMCA, Russian soldiers at a train station, American sailors posing with Russian women while a Japanese soldier hustles past, a Russian armored car, a ship that once flew the US flag now flying the Czechoslovakian flag, and much more. The photos of China are equally revealing. Although a number of the photos here are either scenery or were most likely commercially produced, they nevertheless provide scarce images of the country at the time. Chinese junks line the harbors, a Sikh policeman poses with an American soldier in Shanghai, beggars and peddlars make their way through the streets of Pekin (Beijing), American sailors drink at an establishment called Annie's in Tientsin (Tianjin), a Chinese man gets his hair cut by a barber in an alleyway, and so on. Three additional sections, not in chronological order, close the album: one, most likely RPPCs, of the 1923 Honda Point Disaster; another, apparently vernacular photos of an undated trip aboard an unknown ship down the Yangtze River; and a third, a series of RPPCs and commercial photographs of various US Navy ships and planes, Chinese city scenes, and a 15-panel cartoon depicting sailor life in the Asiatic fleet, including racist caricatures of Chinese people. Thirty-three additional photos of family and friends are also included in the middle of other sections, possibly taken when the sailor was home on leave. An altogether remarkable photo album, providing a scarce record of American naval life in the Pacific immediately following WWI. [From dealer description]

• Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico, el castillo
• Kabah, Yucatan, Mexico, Codz Poop
• Santa Rosa Xtampak, Campeche, Mexico, the palace
• Tikal, Peten, Guatemala, stela and altar
• Yaxha, Peten, Guatemala, ballcourt
• Dzibiltun, Campeche, Mexico, structure
• Nocuchich, Campeche, Mexico, tower
• Tikal, Peten, Guatemala, Temple V
• Yaxchilan, Chiapas, Mexico, statue inside structure 33
• Hochob, Campeche, Mexico, structure 2
• Sacbe, Yucatan, Mexico, structure 1
• Tantah, Campeche, Mexico, structure
• Uxmal, Yucatan, Mexico, Pyramid of the Magician
• Yaxha, Peten, Guatemala, pyramid

A portoflio of original photographs by William Frej documenting Mayan ruins in Guatemala and Mexico previously photographed by Teobert Maler in the late 19th century

A studio carte-de-visite portrait of a seated Chinese woman holding a fan in one hand and a small, hard-to-make-out object in the other. She is wearing embroidered silk robes, large earrings, and typical Chinese thick-soled shoes. According to Palmquist and Kailbourn's Pioneer Photographers of the Far West, John Q. Reed operated out of the Odd Fellows' Lodge (the imprint on the verso of this CDV) in 1870 and 1871, enabling this image to be dated with some accuracy. According to the 1870 census, there were just 40 Chinese immigrant women living in Stockton, all working as prostitutes or in houses of prostitution. The woman in this picture is young and seems dressed in expensive clothes, suggesting that she was perhaps a successful owner of a house of prostitution or that she was part of a wealthy Chinese merchant family from outside the city. In any case, images of Chinese American women from this time period are very scarce. The photographer's imprint is on the back, giving his location as "Entrance Odd Fellows' Hall." [From dealer description]

A studio portrait of a seated Chinese man holding afan. The photograph is captioned (rather than signed) in ink in Chinese characters with the name MaHanchen. [From dealer description]

A small cabinet card photograph of the United Brethren church's Chinese Christian mission, a large two-story wooden building that was once located at 353 Second Ave NW, in Portland, Oregon, just outside the traditional borders of the city's Chinatown. Some thirty-seven people are posed in front of the building, 31 Chinese men, six Anglo women, and an Anglo man. The tall Anglo man, with a large white beard, has a small asterisk inked next to his head. He is identified on the back (verso) of the photograph as the Rev. George Sickafoose. The Rev. Sickafoose was the pastor of the Chinese Christian congregation, which numbered about 150 according to Brethren publications of the era. Standing next to him is a woman who may be Ellen Sickafoose, his wife, who was the superintendent of the mission and its school. In fact, she assumed this position in 1883, with her husband joining her a year later. Standing in front of both Sickafoose is a Chinese man with his arm akimbo. This is Moy Ling, who started a lay Christian group for Chinese immigrants in Portland in the 1870s. The United Brethren agreed to take it over in 1882, sending Mrs. Sickafoose to Portland the next year. Moy Ling continued to work with the mission for many years. According to the Oregonian newspaper (June 17, 1908), Moy was the secretary to the Chinese consul in Portland, the superintendent of the Chinese mission (having assumed Ellen Sickafoose's position), and "a wealthy Chinese merchant now retired from active business." [From dealer description]

A photograph of an 1885 Henry Alexander painting of musicians in a Chinese restaurant. Albumen silver print on thin photographic paper on a slightly larger modern mount. Captioned in a strip along the bottom of the negative. [From dealer description]

Perhaps the most compelling of Taber's Chinatown photographs, a portrait of a traveling vegetable seller, carrying two large baskets of produce suspended from a pole balanced on his shoulder. Another man, also Chinese, poses, perhaps as a customer. The two men are standing in a landscaped park or public garden, with a row of poultry enclosures behind them. This rare glimpse of Chinese-American domestic life has few comparable commercial images—the majority of Chinatown photographs sold by professional photographers in the late 19th century are street scenes or views inside of restaurants. Only Arnold Genthe's Old Chinatown series offers similar insight. In fact, Genthe also took a photograph of an itinerant peddler, "Vegetable Peddler, Old Chinatown" which has more street life but the peddler's face is turned away from the camera, and his baskets are much smaller. [From dealer description]

Two Taber images taken in San Francisco's Chinatown, on a contemporary cardstock mount, probably removed from an album. The photograph of Clay Street offers a sunlit view of the street, looking down hill. A Chinese man in a work apron is walking in the foreground, facing the camera. Other men walk away from Taber's lens or cross the street as a cable car reaches the intersection. Signs for two businesses are clearly visible on the right hand side. The tall vertical sign in the immediate foreground advertises Yuantang's (元堂) shop with medicinal herbs from various provinces of China. A sign farther back, at the corner of the next street, advertises Tai Ning Tong (太寧堂), another Chinese medicine shop. On the back (verso) of the card, mounted in the opposite orientation, is a photograph of a Chinese restaurant, showing the entry hall opening out into the dining room, which has tables and chairs but no people. [From dealer description]

A photograph of an exceptional oil painting by Theodore Wores of a Chinese actor in the lobby of a theater in San Francisco. The actor is in the character of a general. Seated behind him, four musicians perform. This image was reproduced in 1891, probably in Harper's Weekly. This photograph may be the source of that engraving. The area below the actor's outstretched arm shows evidence of tampering in the negative (original to the print). Faint Chinese characters appear to float in the air, as if they had been unsuccessfully removed. This is a striking image, all the more so because of the mysterious details that become apparent on close examination. Wores (1859–1939) was born in San Francisco and painted a number of canvases in the Chinese quarter of that city. Albumen silver print on thin photographic paper, 4-3/4 by 7-1/2 inches, on a slightly larger modern mount. Captioned in a strip along the bottom of the negative. The caption is partially cut-off at the ends. [From dealer description]

"This re-photographic homage to Walker Evans, shot in Ruwedel’s home town of Bethlehem, PA, was the research component of Ruwedel’s photography program degree requirements (Concordia University, MFA 1983). It also serves as an early marker indicating Ruwedel’s interest in the “documentary” and his inclination to pay homage to artists whose work he admires. Along with the print are a Champion road map of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton, PA, and an Exxon road map of Pennsylvania. There are eleven red marker dots on the Bethlehem map indicating sites where Evans photographed in 1935, seven of which are outlined in blue indicating that Ruwedel also photographed at that location. A red marker line on 4th Street indicates the possible location of where Evans photographed a storefront window display. A red marker arrow points towards Easton, where Evans also photographed, and to New York City, from where Evans may have started his 1935 road trip. Bethlehem and Easton are outlined in red and blue marker on the Pennsylvania map."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

An attractive scene inside a San Francisco Chinese restaurant in the 1870s. The image centers on a recessed seating area along the back wall of a room in an empty restaurant, with tables in the foreground, a collection of decorative objects is displayed on the left side of the image. On the right are a doorway and tall, neat stack of extra chairs. The room is neat, luxurious, and virtually devoid of Western objects. Watkins photographed the exterior of two large Chinese restaurants, one on Jackson Street and the other on Dupont, in San Francisco. It's not clear which restaurant this is. The previous image in this series of photographs (B3759) is the restaurant on Dupont; the subsequent one (B3761) is the restaurant on Jackson. Carleton Watkins, a prolific and acclaimed 19th century photographer of California, made a number of views of San Francisco's Chinatown, which was located a couple of blocks from his studio-showroom on Montgomery Street. Watkins is known to have employed a Chinese-American darkroom assistant, Ah Fue, who may have helped give him access to people and locations not normally visited by white photographers. Based on Peter Palmquist's checklist of Watkins' stereoviews—one of which was a cropped version of this photograph—this image likely dates from the late 1870s. The albumen silver print measures 8-1/16 by 4-3/4. In Watkins' New Boudoir Series of Pacific Coast Views, B3760. The albumen print is very near fine, with minor spotting to the edges, not affecting the image. The mount appears to have been cut down and is currently 10-1/8 by 8-1/2, with some tanning along the top edge and a modern caption in pencil along the bottom edge. [From dealer description]

One albumen photo mounted on board. Imperial cabinet card, oblong format. A wide angle view of the U.S. Cruiser "Charleston", numbered 5009. The recto of the board has a sticker "Hirsch, Kahn & Co., Manufacturing Opticians, Photo Supplies, 333 Kearny Street, San Francisco." [From dealer description]

"All prints are horizontal or vertical format 4 x 5 in. cyanotype contact prints on 9 1/2 x 13 1/8 in. sheets, with the location and date of each penciled in on bottom right of the sheet. Ruwedel’s souvenirs of Egypt are photos of modern and contemporary structures and facades where ancient Egyptian architectural motifs have been quoted, generally as Egyptian Revival Art Deco architecture from Canada and the U.S. But the book as “souvenir” also makes reference to 19th-century travel and expeditionary photographers using the cyanotype process, the notebook with its inserted pencil a reference to the note taking and sketching performed while on expedition. The turquoise pencil also functions as a souvenir, a reflection of the blue color of the cyanotype prints, the ancient Egyptian’s passion for using turquoise, and the common use of the color in Art Deco architecture and design."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"Two photos of similar building facades, at 1255 and 1259, no street name given. The first has a worn commercial sign, “Winning,” the second a hand lettered sign, “Losing.” As is typical of Ruwedel’s seemingly happenstance process of discovery and affectless embrace of the forlorn (see Rice, San Bernardino County; Rhino's camp), the “Winning” sign has seen better days – no winners here – and the “Losing” sign is perched at a precarious angle. Losing appears to be inevitable."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"Relating to Ruwedel’s larger “Italian Navigator” project, The Conqueror references the 1955 Hollywood epic of the same name starring Susan Hayward and John Wayne. Wayne is depicted as Genghis Khan, Hayward as “The Tartan Princess.” One page spread consists of a page of sandy brown paper (left) with silkscreen lettering text on the film and nuclear atmospheric testing facing a full page print by Ruwedel of Snow Canyon, Utah (right). Snow Canyon served as the Gobi Desert for the film and also had the distinction of being downwind of the Nevada Test Site where thirty-one atmospheric tests occurred. Radioactive traces are still evident in Snow Canyon today."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"Dealing with America’s nuclear history, specifically his 'Italian Navigator' project, Nevada Test Site Scrapbook, The Conqueror (2012), and Typical American House (2011) demonstrate how Ruwedel cycles work from a particular historical and cultural investigation through varying manifestations. The scrapbook includes maps and satellite views of the Yucca Flat/Yucca Lake and Frenchman Flat/Frenchman Lake areas of the Nevada Test Site, now known as the Nevada National Security Site. Interspersed with Ruwedel's black and white and chromogenic prints of how the area looks today (including a scene of wooden benches from which spectators once observed nuclear explosions) are reproductions of the mushroom clouds from nuclear blasts. For more information on "The Italian Navigator" project, see The Italian Navigator (Montréal: ART 45, Stephen Bulger Gallery and Galerie François Paviot, 2000)."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"Two modular homes are photographed from their end views, each split open down the middle and slowly settling unevenly into the desert, the gap at the top of the split wider than the gap at the bottom. The book’s extremely simple structure, with penciled cover title and title page, and presentation of a single set of facing-page photographs, accentuates Ruwedel's brief but thoughtful homage to Conceptual artist, Gordon Matta-Clark, who was known for his reworkings, or splittings, of buildings. The book also engages with entropy, seriality and and typology, all consistent hallmarks of Ruwedel's practice."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

A fine, dramatic portrait of a Cantonese opera actor standing in a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco. He is surrounded by ornate Chinese-style chairs. In the background, a Buddha shrine is visible, as are stringed instruments hanging on the wall. Scrolls and paintings hang on the wall. The actor, clearly a leading man (xiaosheng) wears an elaborate, ornate costume and the winged cap of a loyal official, the flaps of which could typically be moved with hidden wires for comic or dramatic effect. Carleton Watkins, a prolific and acclaimed 19th century photographer of California, made a number of views of San Francisco's Chinatown, which was located a couple of blocks from his studio-showroom on Montgomery Street. Watkins is known to have employed a Chinese-American darkroom assistant, Ah Fue, who may have helped give him access to people and locations not normally visited by white photographers. Based on Peter Palmquist's checklist of Watkins' stereoviews—one of which was a cropped version of this photograph—this image likely dates from the late 1870s. According to the Sacramento Bee (7 March 1879), Long Yow was the leading male Chinese actor of the day in San Francisco, earning $6700 per year performing in Chinatown's two theaters. This image could be him or one of the half-dozen other leading players on the stage at the time. The photo was taken by Watkins in a Chinese restaurant. A sheet or curtain was hung on the right side of the image, opposite the windows, either to simplify the scene or to reflect light back toward the center of the image. Two other Watkins photographs taken in this room are known: one of two women seated in the same room with the sheet on the right side of the image, titled "Interior, Chinese Restaurant, S. F." (New Boudoir Series, B3764) and a group of four men having tea at a table in front of the musical instruments without the sheet, which reveals a wall of glass (New Boudoir Series B3762). The albumen silver print measures 8-3/16 by 4-3/4, with the image slightly smaller and the mount somewhat larger. It is captioned in letterpress, "B 3765. Chinese Actor. S. F. / Watkins' New Boudoir Series Yo Semite and Pacific Coast, 427 Montgomery Street, San Francisco." [From dealer description]

"Desert landscapes of abandonment and isolation are a familiar theme in Ruwedel's oeuvre, especially in the "Desert Houses" and the "Pictures of Hell" series. The front cover shows the Devils Den oil fields, the rear cover a view of the Kern County landscape. The first interior print is a view down a pitted road, the following facing pages show two abandoned houses, and the last print another view down the same pitted road with Ruwedel’s truck parked off to one side of the road. The inclusion of the truck is a reference to similar depictions of photographers’ wagons in 19-century western landscape photographs, e.g., Timothy O’Sullivan’s in 'Desert Sand Hills near Sink of Carson, Nevada.' (1867)."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

• 1. Robert Smithson: Spiral jetty, 1970
• 2. Robert Smithson: Spiral jetty, 1970
• 3. Robert Smithson: Partially buried woodshed, 1970
• 4. Robert Smithson: Amarillo ramp, 1973
• 5. Michael Heizer: Double negative, 1969-1970
• 6. Michael Heizer: Double negative, 1969-1970
• 7. Michael Heizer: Effigy tumuli, 1983-1985
• 8. Michael Heizer: Effigy tumuli, 1983-1985
• 9. Robert Morris: Grand Rapids project, 1973-1974
• 10. Robert Morris: Untitled earthwork, 1979

"Ruwedel's long interest with Earthworks artist dates back to his undergraduate days at Kutztown State University. Later, while photographing geologically-informed landscapes for the "Report on Lake Bonneville" series, he began to notice the abandoned cuts into hillsides created for the laying of railroad track in the 19th century. As intentional markings upon the land they were similar in appearance to Michael Heizer's Earthwork piece, "Double Negative" (Nevada, 1969-1970). At the time Ruwedel was considering a larger "Earthworks" project that would encompass geologic earth markings, America's indigenous mound builders, the historic railroad hillside cuts, and the contemporary Earthworks artists. That particular notion eventually morphed into multiple projects: "Report on Lake Bonneville," "The Ice Age," "Westward: The Course of Empire" (the railroad epic), and various works documenting the Earthworks artists. The letterpress work was done by Lunar Caustic Press, Toronto (founded by Bill Morgan, a graduate of Ryerson Polytechnic Institute Arts, in 1983)."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"Four abandoned mobile homes are photographed, with one side of the mobile home on the recto of the page, the other side on the verso of the page. This format creates three facing page spreads which show different trailers on the left and right hand spread. The depiction of each trailer follows a standard format, which is typical of Ruwedel's practice. The sides of the trailers are shot straight on, centered left to right, with slightly more foreground than sky showing, creating a desert typology of immobile desolation. These aspects of identification and documentation call to mind the industrial typologies of Bernd and Hilla Becher. Imperial County is located in California's Colorado Desert and forms part of the United States/Mexico border."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"The section of the Transcontinental Railroad between Lucin and Corrine, Utah marked the final push of the Central Pacific crews working from the west (from the San Francisco/Sacramento area) and the Union Pacific track crews working from the east (from Omaha, Nebraska). Promontory Point, Utah, which lies roughly half way between Lucin and Corrine, was eventually selected to mark the meeting of the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific lines in 1869. Each line's grade construction crews, which followed the survey crews and in advance of the track laying crews, actually met and continued to work past each other side by side for miles. Final payments from the U.S. Congress to the railroads was based on miles of track laid and each railroad worked to optimize its own financial benefit. Today parallel road beds can still be seen between Monument Point, Utah, which lies to the west of Promontory Point and Corrine to the east. In 1904 all this earlier effort was abandoned, including Promontory Point itself, as the Lucin Cutoff was built directly across the Great Salt Lake, a bypass saving forty-four miles. In 1942, the original Promontory Summit line was removed between Lucin and Corinne with the last Promontory spikes pulled up with the scrap metal donated to the World War II effort. Ruwedel's documentation of this now-abandoned stretch of construction -- and ambition -- is part of his "Westward the Course of Empire" project (1994-2013), a massive documentary project picturing abandoned railroad grades, tunnels, trestles, bridges, and cuts throughout the Western U.S. and Canada."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"A combination homage to Hollywood, Los Angeles, Ed Ruscha, and, of course, books, the two images are of Karen Black, balancing a stack of books on her head in a scene from John Schlesinger’s The Day of the Locust (1975) and Ed Ruscha, balancing a stack of his books on his head (by Jerry McMillan)."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

• Recordings: Jugend in den Massen organisationen
• Der Jugendliche in der Schule
• Jugend und Freizheit
• Der Jugendliche im Betrieb

• Folders: Der Jugendliche in den Massenorganisationen
• Der Jugendliche in der Schule
• Der Jungendliche im Freitzeitbereich
• Der Jungendliche im Betrieb

• Books: Polytechnische Bildung und Erziehung in der DDR: Entwicklung, Erfahrungen, Probleme / Helmut Klein ; unter Mitarbeit von Wolfgang Reischock (Reinbek bei Hamburg : Rowohlt, 1962)
• Freie Deutsche Jugend / Hanns-Peter Herz (Munchen : Juventa Verlag, 1965)
• Schule im System (Berlin : Senator für Jugend und Sport Berlin, 1963)
• Unsere Jugend und ihr Staat / Horst Grenz ([Berlin] : Staatsverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, [1963])
• Das "Gesetzbuch der Arbeit" der Sowjetzone und das Arbeitsrecht der Budesrepublik Deutschland (Berlin : Rechtsanwalt Sigefried Mampel, [1964?]
• Gedanken und Anregungen / Manfred Wetzel ([Berlin] : Sentor für Jugend und Sport Berlin, [1965?])

• Newspapers: Pressespiegel der Sowjetzone : aus Zeitungen und Zeitschriften hinter dem eisernen Vorhang (Bonn/Berlin : Bundesministerium für Gesamtdeutsche Fragen, no. 40, 1. Oktober 1963)
• Tribüne : Organ des Bundesvorstandes des FDGB (Berlin, 19. Jahrg. Nr. 273 B, 23. November 1963)
• Junge Welt : Organ des Zentralrats der FDJ (Berlin, 17 Jahrgang, Nr. 278 B, 23/24 November 1963)
• Neues Deutschland : Organ des Zentralkomitees der Sozialistischen Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Berlin, 18. Jahrgang, Nr. 322, 23 November 1963)

Jugend im System is a "multimedia collection of classroom materials designed to educate high school students in West Germany about the lives of their young peers in the DDR ... [the contents are] packaged and illustrated throughout with bold 1960s constructivist photomontage designs by Anton Stankowski ... Overall it presents a fascinating portrait of the lives of East German school children at the height of the Cold War, shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy (most of the included newspapers reference his death). Stankowski's designs for the collection emphasize a sense of ideological control and systemic enmeshment, demonstrating for West German students the extent to which their peers' worldview differed from their own."--Dealer's description (F.A. Bennett Books.).

• 1. Fort Phil Kearney, Wyoming
• 2. Fetterman Massacre Site, Wyoming
• 3. Conner Battlefield Site, Wyoming
• 4. Reno-Benteen Battlefield Site, Montana
• 5. Custer Battlefield Site, Montana
• 6. West of Custer Battlefield Site, Montana

"This early portfolio picturing the Bozeman Trail, which ran from Virginia City, Montana to Fort Laramie, Wyoming (specifically sites related to ), marked the first time Ruwedel engaged in writing captions on his mounts. This harkens back to his interest in the 19th century U.S. Geological Survey photographers, such as Timothy O'Sullivan, and the manner in which illustrations were captioned in the Survey reports. It is also an indication of Ruwedel's interest in the Conceptual artists whose practices required the textual and photographic documentation of their works. The use of pencil captions on his mounted works continued as a consistent mark of his practice, their faint tracings similar to the faint visual markings he photographs in the landscape."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"References are to the location and one of the palm trees in Ruscha’s A Few Palm Trees (1967) and John Baldessari’s hometown, National City, which often figured in his work. Cf. John Baldessari's Wrong from 1966–68."----Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"The nine prints follow in “numerical” order, from “Una Palma” to “Thousand Palms Oasis.” Although there are not actually 1,212 palms pictured, the total of the number of palms in the place names adds up to 1,212. This is another of Ruwedel's references to Edward Ruscha, in this case to A Few Palm Trees (1971), and also to Ruscha's use of numbering as an absurdist gesture, e.g., Twenty Six Gasoline Stations (1972). One thousand two hundred and twelve palms is another of Ruwedel’s place name pieces, similar to the Dogtown artists’ book and portfolio, or the much larger and more extensive “Pictures of Hell” project and book."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"Ruwedel’s portrayal of this forlorn house on the western edge of the Mojave Desert, with its presentation of trash and tumbleweed covered floors, graffiti painted walls, stained mattresses and busted up walls, proposes neither sympathy nor empathy. With all its evidence of abandonment the house is simply there, mute in its desolation, brimming with detritus, but seemingly empty of narrative. The black and white prints are all exterior views of the house, the color prints all interior views."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

An early portrait of the Syrian-born Phares Behannesey (187901950) and his brother in "native dress," presumably taken while Phares was resident in Galesburg, Illinois and touring as a lecturer on life in the Middle East. Phares later settled in Los Angeles and became a prominent member of the Los Angeles Arab-American community. Behannesey was one of the local Arab-Americans who funded the 1909 legal fight of George Shishim to establish that Arab-Americans were in fact members of the "white race" and eligible for U.S. citizenship. [From dealer description]

"Rice is an abandoned town at the southern tip of the Mojave Desert. It is one of a number of such sites towns figure in his larger, epic project, the "Desert Houses" series, which documents abandoned dwellings in the desert east of Los Angeles. In Rice, Ruwedel's photographic cataloging of these curiosities of desolation and their sense of failed expectations includes the following: discarded bras hanging from trees, a dilapidated gas station, an untrimmed palm tree, three mattress lying in the dirt, and so on."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"Alongside Nevada Test Site Scrapbook (1995) and The Conqueror (2012), this is another work that derives from Ruwedel's “The Italian Navigator” project, a series of works referencing America’s development of the atomic bomb and history of nuclear explosive testing. Reproducing four photographs from the 1953 tests at the Yucca Flat area of the Nevada Test Site, the book serves as a photographic memento of 1950s testing. Alternating with the reproduced 1953 images are three full page gelatin silver prints by Ruwedel, two showing a wooden test house still standing today (also shown in one of the smaller reproduced images from 1953), the third a landscape with the test house in the far distance. The printing paper used for the cover image is from a fogged box of Agfa Classic matte, the interior silver prints are Bergger Semi Gloss (as per MR)."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

A studio portrait (with Art Deco matting) of the young daughter of Japanese Ambassador to the United States Katsui Debuchi (1928-1934) laying on her Steiff bear. Stamped by the photographer T. Utsushigawa and it was taken at his studio in Los Angeles, circa 1932

"The first page, a hand drawn map on translucent vellum paper, outlines an island with two locations identified, Squirrel Cove on the east coast and Whaletown on the west coast. When opening the book the title page shows through the map from the backside, with the title setting up the books narrative, "From Squirrel Cove to Whaletown." What went from Squirrel Cove to Whaletown? The two prints, on facing pages, provide the necessary documentation. They picture a small shack shown in two different locations, one captioned "2012," the other "2013." The location is Cortes Island in the Discovery Islands archipelago on the coast of British Columbia, Canada, an area Ruwedel knows well. The use of the map as a locational device and photography as a means to document an activity, and the somewhat absurdist nature of the operation (how and why would a shack move across the island?) suggests a referencing to the artists and practices of the Conceptual Art movement, possibly in this case Richard Long or Hamish Fulton even Edward Ruscha."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021).

Albumen studio portrait of a young Chinese American man dressed in ethnic attire, wearing traditional jacket, trousers and platform shoes, and holding a book in his left hand. According to the 1880 census, 98 Chinese are counted living in Santa Cruz; they came to California due to the gold rush, and later worked in railroad construction, logging, and in the sugar beet fields. They lived in a small Chinatown, mostly along Front Street in old wood buildings, which were destroyed in the 1894 great fire. The anti Chinese laws of the 1870s put an end to immigration, and prevented resident Chinese immigrants from owning property or becoming citizens. Period note on the verso, written in pencil "Suez June." Photographer's stamp on verso reads, "Taken At Hunter's Photograph Gallery, 551 North 3D Ave. Cor. 149th St." [From dealer information]

"Adelanto is in San Bernardino County in the Mojave Desert, the location for much of the "Desert Houses" series. The color pigment print on the inside front cover shows a doorway with a door hanging loose (but mostly blocking the doorway) on which someone has spray painted a profanity. However the door is upside down, consequently so is the graffiti. This upside down, backwards text is repeated on the second page in dry transfer lettering, facing the title page. Inside the rear cover Ruwedel has mounted the same scene upside down so the graffiti profanity reads properly left to right. The remainder of the photos show the usual destruction of a deserted desert home and piles of scattered trash. Ruwedel’s flipping of the last photograph restores at least a sense of lexical order to yet another portrayal of desert desolation."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"The book opens with a straight on, centered shot of a shack, a small van, and an abandoned delivery truck lined up next to each other in the desert. On the verso of this page red digitally printed text lists the graffiti profanity painted on the front of the abandoned delivery truck (plus some other phrases which are apparently painted elsewhere). The truck is pictured in close-up on the facing page. Ruwedel’s documentation of a forsaken and desolate desert vernacular, the consistency of his photographic grammar and the apparent emotional neutrality of his presentations are constants in his practice. This bedrock syntax of Ruwedel’s oeuvre is certainly drawn to some extent from Timothy O’Sullivan’s 40th Parallel work of the 1870s, the Becher’s Ruhr area industrial cataloging of the post-War era, the New Topographers’ focus on the man-altered landscape, and Edward Ruscha’s grammar of repetition."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021)

"Two almost identical apartment buildings are presented, the first at 8115, the second next door at 8107, Lincoln Boulevard, Los Angeles. The photographic syntax is the same for each picture, the camera placed dead center in front of each building, with the street in front of the buildings shown in the foreground. The consistent syntax and the mini-grid of two facing pictures is a nod to the works of both Ed Ruscha and Bernd & Hilla Becher. The straight on approach recalls Ruscha’s Every building on the Sunset Strip (1966). Ruscha photographed his apartment buildings in Some Los Angeles apartments (1965) from a diagonal vantage point."--Curator's comments by Peter Blank, Stanford Libraries Photography Curator (2018-2021).