by Smith Umland
Harvard Business School’s Baker Library Special Collections always takes full advantage of its spot just inside the front door of the library with its exhibitions and it’s no different with Photography and Corporate Public Relations: The Case of U.S. Steel, 1930-1960. The exhibition stands in the front lobby, which is visible from both front and back entrances and the vibrant blues and golden yellow accents of the backlit stanchions and displays catches the eye no matter which door you step in. Four stands in the corners of the room and a table by the front door hold 40-page booklets designed to accompany the exhibition, full of background information, contributions from the director of Special Collections, Laura Linard, and the guest curator, Melissa Banta, and high quality photographs of the pieces shown in the exhibition. Even this initial introduction shows the resources the department has available and how much has gone into this collection, it’s maintenance, and now it’s exhibition.
Eight glass cases stand on either side of backlit displays that organize the exhibition into eight themes that are based on the various public relations strategies that the steel industry took during this time period. Once in the center of these displays, a look to either side shows there are two additional rooms with the broader themes of “Public Relations and U.S. Steel” on one side and “Corporate Commissions and Industrial Photography” on the other. The exhibit’s structure allows anyone to walk into any of the three sections and be able to begin to move through the exhibition from exactly where they are. Unfortunately the stanchions and structure of the exhibition don’t direct you to the reading room of the Special Collections, which is on one side of the front lobby just past the front door. The focus is on the objects themselves, as a way of showing what the archives collect, how it is relevant to Harvard Business School, and how large their collection is. The exhibition displays high quality photographs, original advertisements and marketing materials, books of photography that were released to the public, internal communication and records, and even a video.
It’s clear that this exhibition is designed to capture not only the gaze of students, faculty, and staff who move through the building, but also tourists, who can actually catch a weekly tour of the building starting near the reading room’s entrance. These people can see, first, that the Business School Archives holds amazing collections, but second that the archives support the mission of the Business School by collecting records having to do with one of the largest industries in the U.S. The first aspect might be geared more towards the public in general, but the second one is most certainly geared towards students and faculty, who are there specifically to do research on business and economics. In this way the Special Collections engage with more traditional users, while also demonstrating their value and power of and to not only the Business School, but Harvard overall, as they show just how much Harvard has in terms of collection size, financial value, and research value. This exhibition is a vibrant way to introduce whoever might come to the Baker Library to a small sample of what this archives can provide. It’s clear from the images of further records (such as individual pages from larger books or photographs and advertisements) not on display that this collection is so much larger than what is shown, and works to pull visitors in to not only everything this collection can offer, but also everything the archives can offer, especially in terms of powerful and U.S.-shaping corporations. This is exactly what visitors to the Business School are looking for, whether the public or faculty, staff, or students. It’s clear the department is aware of this and this exhibition is an excellent demonstration of that.