Caufield and Shook collection

This collection consists of approximately 47,000 nitrate negatives and 235,100 safety negatives, prints, and associated records of Caufield & Shook, Inc. studio of Louisville, KY. Caufield & Shook operated in Louisville, Kentucky from around 1903 to 1978 but the bulk of the photographs in this collection date from 1930 to 1965 (many items from before 1937 were lost in the 1937 Ohio River Flood). Subjects include Louisville businesses and events, with wide coverage of the 1937 Ohio River Flood, portraits, street views, parks, buildings, and much more in Louisville and the surrounding region. Photographers represented are Frank Shook, Will Bowers, Irvin Glass, Harry Fried, Ned Tanselle, and Dick Duncan. Materials include original prints, original negatives, copy prints, copy negatives, and invoice files. Photographic formats include acetate “safety” negatives, nitrate negatives, glass negatives, and gelatin silver prints.

Thousands of books, newspapers, magazines, and television programs have used Caufield and Shook photographs as illustrations. The images appearing in the digital collection had already been scanned due to their demand for publications or exhibits. The digital collection will be updated in phases as groups of scans are cataloged and completed. Information about the images was gleaned in many cases from the invoice records of the Caufield & Shook firm (held by the University of Louisville Photographic Archives). When the invoice number is known, that information, along with the person or company who placed the order, has been included in the Invoice Information field of the digital image record. Original dates were supplied by the invoices; additional original dates are based on the sequence of identifying numbers assigned to the negatives, which are recorded in the Item Number field of the digital image record.