Negative and Glass Plate File, 1868-2006 | University of Illinois Archives

On December 14, 1897, the Board of Trustees voted to establish a INT room, which would also house the University's collection of photographic equipment.¹ By 1911 this room had become the Blueprinting Department,² and in 1913 the Board of Trustees appointed a man to be the head of a Photography Laboratory.³ By August 1, 1929, the two departments had merged,⁴ and on March 10, 1936, the Board of Trustees voted to place the INT and Photographic Laboratory under the control of the Director of the Physical Plant Department.⁵ Upon its establishment in 1950,⁶ the Communications Division took over control of the Laboratory, but the Board of Trustees voted to return it to the Physical Plant Department on April 21, 1954.⁷ In 1953, the Laboratory first appeared in the budget as the "Blueprinting and Photographic Service."⁸ In 1957 the University Director of Public Affairs took control of the Photographic Service.⁹ The Photographic Service provides the staff and students of the University with photographers for public relations, instruction, and research, as well as providing portraits, passports, film strips, slides, and film processing.¹⁰

1. Board of Trustees Transactions, 19th Report, December 14, 1897, pp. 207-08.

2. Board of Trustees Transactions, 26th Report, January 17, 1911, p. 68.

3. Board of Trustees Transactions, 27th Report, February 12, 1913, p. 176.

4. Board of Trustees Transactions, 35th Report, Sept. 18, 1929, p. 352.

5. Board of Trustees Transactions, 38th Report, March 10, 1936, p. 595.

6. Board of Trustees Transactions, 45th Report, February 16, 1950, p. 1126.

7. Board of Trustees Transactions, 47th Report, April 21, 1954, p. 1323.

8. Ibid., July 25, 1953, p. 1025.

9. Board of Trustees Transactions, 49th Report, July 16, 1957, p. 754.

10. Academic Staff Handbook, February, 1976, p. 32.