Murdock Aerial Photography collection
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of 13,424 photographs, 403 slides, 786 negatives, and 21 CDs, with the vast majority being aerial photographs taken of the landscape in Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and portions of other states. The photography spans the years of large growth in Washington County from approximately 1982 to 2005. A small portion of the collection consists of ground shots and family photographs. Most of the work was done in the Southern Utah and Northern Arizona areas. Municipalities and commercial entities such as planning commissions and committees for the development of newly annexed and purchased properties contracted aerial landscape studies with the Murdocks. Water conservation and dam engineers also commissioned aerial photographs with them.
The Utah counties of Washington, Kane, San Juan, Iron, and Garfield are the most photographed, but included are photos from counties running northward to Salt Lake County, including some counties on the east and west sides of the I-15 corridor. The Arizona counties of Coconino and Mohave, and Clark County in Nevada are also represented. A small number of photographs were also taken in and around Blackfoot, Idaho.
Among the cities photographed are the following: St. George, Washington, Hurricane, Leeds, New Harmony, Cedar City, Payson, Nephi, Manti, Richfield, and Milford in Utah; Fredonia, Beaver Dam, and Colorado City in Arizona; and Mesquite and Glendale in Nevada. Commercial entities include: Walmart, Sun River, Brian Head Resort, Coral Canyon, and others. The collection also contains landscape aerial photography of places like Brian Head, Cedar Breaks, and Zion and Bryce National Parks.
Dates
- Creation: 1970 - 2011
Creator
- Murdock, Joan (Photographer, Person)
- Murdock, Clinton (Photographer, Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open and freely available to researchers during Special Collections hours or by appointment. Researchers must complete an Application for Use and show a photo ID prior to accessing materials. Please provide 48 hour notice to view the negative or slide portions of the collection as they require special storage and handling.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright held by Utah Tech University Library Special Collections and Archives. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be obtained from the Special Collections and Archives.
Biographical/Historical note
Clinton Van "Nick" Murdock was born September 25, 1921 to Leo Delbert and Frances Rosetta Dance and raised in Idaho. Murdock joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 while at the University of Idaho, served in seven campaigns of World War II, including Normandy, and was a World War II pilot of distinction. Upon his return, he married Joan Packham and they raised their family on a farm in Idaho before moving to Hurricane, Utah in 1980. In 1982, they started their 25 years of aerial photography work, selling prints to contractors and home owners, among others. Nick piloted their small plane while Joan held a camera out of the window to take the photographs. They lived on an old airstrip in Hurricane, Utah in the Sky Ranch area, so were able to house the aircraft in a hangar that doubled as their home and take off using the adjacent runway. Nick retired from flying in 2007 and returned to Idaho in 2008 with Joan. He passed away in 2009.
Full Extent
20.5 Linear Feet (37 photograph boxes, 3 binders, and 1 gray letter document case)
Language of Materials
English
Metadata Rights Declarations
- License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Creative Commons license.
Abstract
The Murdock Aerial Photography collection contains photographic proof prints, negatives, slides, and CDs of Southern Utah and surrounding areas created by Clinton and Joan Murdock from 1982-2005, primarily for use by local planning commissions and companies developing in the region.
Arrangement
Photographic prints in the collection were arranged physcially by size, then into series by broad geographic area, then into subseries by a narrower geographic area, where appropriate, as this was believed to be of most potential value for researchers in this repository. They were then organized chronologically by the dates provided by the Murdocks on the back of each photograph or on labels attached to pages in the original binders. Finally, they were arranged according to what is believed to be the film roll number and photograph on the roll as assigned by the Murdocks. In some cases there are discrepancies among the prints in terms of how roll numbers correspond to dates. Where this occurs and where possible during processing, an additional date is provided that is assumed to be correct because it places a roll of film within the apparent chronological order in which they seem to have been taken.
A list has been produced for use in dating photographs that have roll numbers but do not have dates. For the most part, the rolls seem to have been shot in chronological order with some confusion for the film shot in April 1983.
For the prints of photographs contained on discs, the disc number is referenced instead of a roll number and the dates provided are the print dates. The last modified dates on the discs indicate that the actual photography likely took place several years prior to the print dates.
Film, slides, and discs were organized in numerical order according to the system created by the Murdocks.
Existence and Location of Originals
The Special Collections and Archives hold the photographic proof prints and slides produced by the Murdocks in the course of their business, as well as a portion of the original negatives and discs. All other negatives are currently (as of 2013) held by Colorland Photo, 75 East Tabernacle St., St. George, UT 84770, and prints can be requested there. The remainder of the negatives may be accessioned by Special Collections and Archives at some future date.
Sponsor Note
This collection was processed and described with the assistance of a preservation grant from the Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board.
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Amber J. D'Ambrosio, Head of Special Collections & Archives
- Date
- June 12, 2013
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- This collection was processed and described with the assistance of a preservation grant from the Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board.
Revision Statements
- June 2022: Finding aid has been updated to reflect the Utah Tech University name change, basic grammatical changes, removal of a language of description note, and a container summary update by Caitlinn Grimm, Special Collections Paraprofessional.
- June 2024: Finding aid has been updated to more accurately reflect physical organization of the collection. - Madeline White, Special Collections Paraprofessional
Repository Details
Part of the Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives Repository
330 Holland Centennial Commons
225 South 700 East
Saint George 84770 United States
(435) 634-2087
specialcollections@utahtech.edu