View XML QR Code

David Fetherston photograph collection, 1900-2018

Overview of the Collection

Photographer
Fetherston, David, 1952-2021
Title
David Fetherston photograph collection
Dates
1900-2018 (inclusive)
Quantity
6287 items, (9 boxes)
Collection Number
P2275
Summary
David Fetherston (1952-2021) was an automotive historian, journalist and photographer, as well as a prolific author and publisher. The David Fetherston photograph collection contains prints and digitized images documenting American racing history, with particular focus on speed trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, collected by Fetherston. It also contains slides and digital photographs of photographs taken by Fetherston during his attendance at the Bonneville Speed Week and other events and of automobiles for inclusion in the pictoral books he wrote and published.
Repository
University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0860

Telephone: 8015818863
special@library.utah.edu
Access Restrictions

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Languages
English
Return to Top

Biographical Note

David Fetherston (1952-2021) was an automotive historian, journalist and photographer, as well as a prolific author and publisher. Born on September 16, 1952, Fetherston was raised in Canberra, Australia. Fetherston had dyslexia. He received a four-year degree in 1975 from Canberra College, where he studied Photography/Film Making, and a two year degree in 1977 from the Canberra School of Art in Print Making and Design. In 1984, Fetherston moved to California and commenced his lifelong career as an automotive journalist and photographer. He contributed to numerous publications, including Custom Rodder, Street Machine, and Popular Hot Rodding.In 1984, Fetherston also established Fetherston Publishing, LLC, and began to write and self-publish the first of over forty titles. Notable among these are Heroes of Hot Rodding (1992), the 1999 Automotive Book of the Year American Woodys, and Bonneville - A Century of Speed (2013), a collaboration with land speed racer Ron Main to fundraise for the Bonneville "Save the Salt" campaign.

In addition to his work as a writer and publisher, Fetherston received a two-year degree in 2003 from Santa Rosa Junior College in Marketing and Advertising, and worked as the Director of Marketing for Flowmaster Mufflers from 2004-2007. Fetherston was a dedicated attendee, participant, and press representative at Bonneville "Speed Week" and other land speed events and time trials. He was also a long-time member of many organizations, including the Southern California Timing Association, the Utah Salt Racers Association, the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association, the Society of Automotive Historians, and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. David Fetherston died on February 26, 2021 in Sebastopol, California.

Return to Top

Content Description

The David Fetherston photograph collection consists of 9 boxes. The original order of the collection upon donation was preserved when possible and loose material was organized following the existing ordering schema. The collection is arranged in four series defined by format type. Within the series, the items in the boxes are arranged by subject matter and date. Series I consists of boxes 1-3 and contains primarily photograph prints collected by Fetherston and documenting racing history and speed trials at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The majority of the images in this series are press photographs. The images may be under copyright. Series II consists of Boxes 4-6 and contains slides, negatives, and transparencies, the majority of which were created by Fetherston during his attendance at Bonneville Speed Week and other events from the 1980s though 2010. Series III consists of Boxes 7-8 and contains digital only material. Series IV consists of Box 9 and contains oversize material.

Return to Top

Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.

Permission to publish material from the David Fetherston photograph collection must be obtained from the Special Collections Manuscript Curator.

Preferred Citation

Initial Citation: David Fetherston photograph collection, P2275, Box [ ]. Special Collections and Archives. University of Utah, J. Willard Marriott Library. Salt Lake City, Utah.

Following Citations: P2275.

Return to Top

Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged by subject

Acquisition Information

Donated by Nanette Simons in 2021.

Processing Note

Processed by Special Collections staff.

Separated Materials

See also the David Fetherston papers (ACCN 3197) in the Manuscripts Division of Special Collections.

Return to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

  • I: Prints

    This series of the collection contains press photos, snapshots, and copy prints documenting the history of land sped racing, particularly at the Bonneville Salt Flats, in the twentieth century. Many of the photographs document prominent figures and record holders. Press photographs were taken by newspapers and news organizations throughout the United States and are typically dated with identifying information about the subject; these photographs are likely copyrighted to the creator or newspaper. Snapshots and copy prints are typically not dated or identified and were organized by approximate decade or subject matter. Box 2 of this series includes a number of prints and snapshots collected by David Fetherston from Dean Moon and Mooneyes Moon Equipment Company for inclusion in his book Moon Equipped.

    • Description: Sir Malcolm Campbell
      Dates: 1919-1935
      Container: Box 1, Folder 1
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: George Eyston
      Dates: 1932-1938
      Container: Box 1, Folder 2
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: John Cobb
      Dates: 1938-1947
      Container: Box 1, Folder 3
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Ab Jenkins
      Dates: 1933-1947
      Container: Box 1, Folder 4
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Ronald R. Free
      Dates: 1948
      Container: Box 1, Folder 5
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Goldie Gardner, Stirling Moss, MG EX 181
      Dates: 1950s
      Container: Box 1, Folder 6
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Bill Kenz and Roy Leslie, 777
      Dates: circa 1950-1951
      Container: Box 1, Folder 7
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Gustav Gaumm, Flying Stretcher
      Dates: 1955
      Container: Box 1, Folder 8
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Wally Parks, Hot Rod Plymouth
      Dates: 1957-circa 1990
      Container: Box 1, Folder 9
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Athol Graham, City of Salt Lake
      Dates: 1954-1960
      Container: Box 1, Folder 10
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Mickey Thompson
      Dates: 1959-circa 1969
      Container: Box 1, Folder 11
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Copy Prints: Bonneville from Gordon Keck
      Dates: 1961
      Container: Box 1, Folder 12
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Donald Campbell
      Dates: circa 1960-1965
      Container: Box 1, Folder 13
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Nathan Ostich
      Dates: 1960-1963
      Container: Box 1, Folder 14
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Glenn Leasher
      Dates: 1962
      Container: Box 1, Folder 15
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Art Arfons, Wingfoot Express
      Dates: circa 1964-1965
      Container: Box 1, Folder 16
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Betty Skelton
      Dates: 1966
      Container: Box 1, Folder 17
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Craig Breedlove, Spirit of America
      Dates: 1961-1967
      Container: Box 1, Folder 18
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Art Arfons, Green Monster
      Dates: 1964-1969
      Container: Box 1, Folder 19
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Bob and Bill Summers, Goldenrod
      Dates: circa 1965
      Container: Box 1, Folder 20
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Autolite Lead Wedge
      Dates: 1968-1970
      Container: Box 1, Folder 21
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Gary Gabelich, Blue Flame
      Dates: 1970-1973
      Container: Box 1, Folder 22
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Budweiser Rocket
      Dates: 1979
      Container: Box 1, Folder 23
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Photos Used in "Moon Equipped"
      Dates:
      Container: Box 2, Folder 1
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Photos Collected for "Moon Equipped," Bonneville
      Dates: circa 1950s-1960s
      Container: Box 2, Folder 2
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Prints, Snapshots by Dean Moon
      Dates: circa 1950s-1980s
      Container: Box 2, Folder 3
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Slides: "Moon Story"
      Dates: 1955-1990
      Container: Box 2, Folder 4
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Dean Moon, Moonline, Bonneville
      Dates: 1998
      Container: Box 2, Folder 5
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Pin Ups from Dean Moon
      Dates:
      Container: Box 2, Folder 6
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Photos used in "Heroes of Hot Rodding"
      Dates: circa 1950s-1990s
      Container: Box 2, Folder 7
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Photos from Motorcycle Weekly
      Dates: 1970s
      Container: Box 2, Folder 8
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Don Vesco, Yamaha
      Dates: 1970s
      Container: Box 2, Folder 9
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Vincent Motorcycles
      Dates: circa 1950s
      Container: Box 2, Folder 10
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: General Motorcycles
      Dates: circa 1950s-1970s
      Container: Box 2, Folder 11
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Erick Rickman Photographs: Motorcycles
      Dates:
      Container: Box 2, Folder 12
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Monster Shirts, Robert Hegge Photography
      Dates: circa 1950s-1960s
      Container: Box 2, Folder 13
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Caterpillar Equipment, Bonneville Salt Flats
      Dates: 1953
      Container: Box 2, Folder 14
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Bonneville Cars and Crews
      Dates: 1963
      Container: Box 2, Folder 15
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Snapshots: 105 DL, EL, FL
      Dates: circa 1970s-1980s
      Container: Box 2, Folder 16
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Ernie Immerso Portrait, Vehicles
      Dates: 1950s-1990
      Container: Box 2, Folder 17
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: John Lynch, Rod Hodfield, Leigh Fielder, Aussie Assault
      Dates: circa 2000s
      Container: Box 2, Folder 18
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Z.E.R. Bertone
      Dates: circa 2000s
      Container: Box 2, Folder 19
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Autographed Photographs
      Dates:
      Container: Box 2, Folder 20
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Copy Prints: Racing History
      Dates: circa 1900-1920s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 1
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Press Photos: Racing History
      Dates: 1920s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 2
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Press Photos: Racing History, Bonneville
      Dates: 1930s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 3
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Press Photos, Copy Prints: Racing History, Bonneville
      Dates: 1930s-1940s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 4
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Press Photos: Racing History, Bonneville
      Dates: 1950s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 5
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Racing History
      Dates: 1950s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 6
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Copy Prints, Snapshots: Bonneville Salt Flats
      Dates: circa 1940s-1950s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 7
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Press Photos: Racing History
      Dates: 1960s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 8
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Snapshots, Copy Prints: Racing History, Bonneville
      Dates: 1960s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 9
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Press Photos: Racing History, Bonneville
      Dates: 1970s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 10
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Snapshots: Bonneville Salt Flats
      Dates: circa 1970s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 11
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Bonneville Salt Flats
      Dates: circa 1980s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 12
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Racing History
      Dates: circa 1990s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 13
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Bonneville Salt Flats
      Dates: circa 2000s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 14
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: People: Racers, Teams, Portraits
      Dates:
      Container: Box 3, Folder 15
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Press Photos, Copy Prints: Other Vehicles
      Dates: circa 1930s-1940s
      Container: Box 3, Folder 16
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: General: Accidents, Auto Parts
      Dates:
      Container: Box 3, Folder 17
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Prints of Digital Photos: Bonneville
      Dates:
      Container: Box 3, Folder 18
      Location: I: Prints
    • Description: Postcards
      Dates: circa 1930-2000
      Container: Box 3, Folder 19
      Location: I: Prints

  • II: Slides and Negatives

    This series of the collection contains color slides and negatives. Most were created by David Fetherston during his attendance at Bonneville Speed Week or for use in the books he wrote and published through Fetherston Publishing Company. In addition to photographs of Bonneville events, this series includes slides of images included in Fetherston's 1995 book Woodys, a pictorial guide to wood-paneled vehicles. The material in this series primarily date from the 1980s to 2000s.

  • III: Digital Media

    This series of the collection contains digital media. This includes born digital photographs taken by Fetherston and acquaintances as well as digitized copies of physical prints. Included in the material are photographs that Fetherston digitally edited and enhanced to include in his various publications through Fetherston Publishing. Because of the mixed sources, this portion of the collection contains both lower resolution files (jpg) and high resolution files (tif). The donor's organization of the material has been preserved with simplified folder structure. Box 7 was donated on an external hard drive and consists of material primarily created or collected by Fetherston. Box 8 was donated on an USB flash drive and was gifted to Fetherston by Gordon Keck; it consists of jpgs scanned from physical prints.

    • Description: Orman Beach, Florida
      Dates: 1905
      Container: Box 7, Folder 1
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: "Hot Rods Burn up the Desert," Popular Mechanics, by Thomas E. Stimson, Jr.
      Dates: October 1952
      Container: Box 7, Folder 2
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville
      Dates: 2008
      Container: Box 7, Folder 3
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Digitally Edited, Bonneville
      Dates: 2008
      Container: Box 7, Folder 4
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville
      Dates: 2006
      Container: Box 7, Folder 5
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville
      Dates: 2010
      Container: Box 7, Folder 6
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville
      Dates: 2013
      Container: Box 7, Folder 7
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) Bonneville Calendar Images
      Dates: 2013-2018
      Container: Box 7, Folder 8
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville Coupes
      Dates: 1988-2014
      Container: Box 7, Folder 9
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Gordon Keck Collection, Bonneville Speed Week
      Dates: 1979
      Container: Box 7, Folder 10
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Digitally Edited, Bonneville
      Dates: 2016
      Container: Box 7, Folder 11
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Unedited, Bonneville
      Dates: 2016
      Container: Box 7, Folder 12
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville Motorcycles
      Dates: 2000-2113
      Container: Box 7, Folder 13
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Salt Resurfacing
      Dates: June 2014
      Container: Box 7, Folder 14
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville Roadsters
      Dates: 1986-2014
      Container: Box 7, Folder 15
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville Sedans, Sports, Race cars
      Dates: 1985-2014
      Container: Box 7, Folder 16
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville Streamliners, Lakesters
      Dates: 1986-2017
      Container: Box 7, Folder 17
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Burke Brothers Liner crash
      Dates: 1987
      Container: Box 7, Folder 18
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville People, Start Lines, Pits
      Dates: 1952-2010
      Container: Box 7, Folder 19
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville Salt, Horizons, Aerials
      Dates: 1964-2016
      Container: Box 7, Folder 20
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Decals, Patches, Shirts
      Dates: 1953-1982
      Container: Box 7, Folder 21
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville Signs
      Dates: 1936-2006
      Container: Box 7, Folder 22
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville Postcards, General Print
      Dates: 1917-2006
      Container: Box 7, Folder 23
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: General Racing and Automotive
      Dates: 1899-1959
      Container: Box 7, Folder 24
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Fetherston Press page numbering icons
      Dates: 2014
      Container: Box 7, Folder 25
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Keck and Palmer, Bonneville
      Dates: 1964
      Container: Box 8, Folder 1
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville
      Dates: 1966
      Container: Box 8, Folder 2
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Racers at Home, Bonneville
      Dates: 1967-1968
      Container: Box 8, Folder 3
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Racers at Home, Bonneville
      Dates: 1969
      Container: Box 8, Folder 4
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: "Bill P," Bonneville
      Dates: 1971
      Container: Box 8, Folder 5
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Racers at Home, Bonneville
      Dates: 1972
      Container: Box 8, Folder 6
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville
      Dates: 1973
      Container: Box 8, Folder 7
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Grandstands, House, Bonneville, Slammer
      Dates: 1976
      Container: Box 8, Folder 8
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Slammer Interior
      Dates: 1977
      Container: Box 8, Folder 9
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Painting the Slammer
      Dates: 1981
      Container: Box 8, Folder 10
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Slammer
      Dates: 1976-1981
      Container: Box 8, Folder 11
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville
      Dates: 1991
      Container: Box 8, Folder 12
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bonneville
      Dates: 1994
      Container: Box 8, Folder 13
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Bert Peterson and Noel Black Roadster
      Dates: 1969-1970
      Container: Box 8, Folder 14
      Location: III: Digital Media
    • Description: Undated Bonneville
      Dates:
      Container: Box 8, Folder 15
      Location: III: Digital Media

  • IV: Oversize

    This series of the collection contains oversize material.

    • Description: Mobil 127 B/SC
      Dates:
      Container: Box 9, Folder 1
      Location: IV: Oversize

Finding aid created by Claire A. Kempa
2022

CC0

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West