J.B.

Jackson, cultural geographer:

evolution of an archive
Audra Bellmore, Claire-Lise Bénaud and Sever Bordeianu
University Libraries, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this article is to document the acquisition and processing of an important landscape architecture archive, the J.B. Jackson
Collection, and making it available for scholars and researchers.
Design/methodology/approach – The first part of the article describes the importance of Jackson’s contribution to landscape architecture and his
professional legacy. This legacy consisted in a large collection of slides, scattered among various individuals and institutions. The authors then address
how the various parts of the collection were identified, acquired, digitized and brought to the University of New Mexico (UNM). Metadata creation and
issues of copyright are also discussed.
Findings – The paper finds that it requires considerable professional effort and networking to take a working collection and transform it into an archive
that has intellectual cogency.
Research limitations/implications – UNM’s effort to acquire, preserve and make this collection widely available will inspire future scholars and
spark new ways of looking at landscape.
Practical implications – The extensive restoration needed for the Jackson slides warranted a vendor with museum experience, in this instance, Two
Cat Digital. Metadata creation requires training qualified personnel. Copyright limitations dictate how the slides display.
Originality/value – J.B. Jackson defined the vernacular landscape. This project made his distinctive and important collection available to the research
community. The paper also discussed the process of taking a working collection and turning it into a bona fide research tool.

Keywords Copyright, Dublin Core, Digitization, J.B. Jackson, Landscape architecture, Metadata, Slides, Vernacular architecture, Geography,
Archives, Collections management

Paper type Research paper

Introduction the fields of cultural landscape studies, landscape history,

John Brinckerhoff Jackson, known commonly as J.B. Jackson,
is considered the originator of cultural landscape studies in
America. His greatest contribution “was to reintroduce
Americans to their vernacular landscape, to teach them to
see again – and in a new light – the common elements of
roads, houses, yards, and towns”, Horowitz (1998). While he
had a cosmopolitan education and his prestigious academic
activities took place at Berkeley and Harvard, his personal
connection and interest are grounded in New Mexico. After
WWII, Jackson settled in New Mexico, where he spent
childhood summers on his uncle’s ranch. And even though
Jackson never taught at the University of New Mexico
(UNM), his adopted home always remained close to his heart.
On his death in 1996, Jackson donated the majority of this
estate to UNM.
As the primary person to define the vernacular landscape
J.B. Jackson’s significance is undeniable. Jackson continues to
be of interest to academicians, scholars and practitioners in
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31/3 (2012) 115– 119
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0160-4953]
[DOI 10.1108/01604951211243515]
architectural history, and historic preservation. The Center
for Southwest Research (CSWR) at the University of New
Mexico works to document the legacy of this pivotal figure by
collecting, interpreting and preserving materials related to
Jackson’s life and work and making them accessible to
researchers. Collected from a dispersed set of donors,
primarily Jackson’s friends, colleagues and former teaching
assistants, some of who stand as the foremost scholars of the
cultural landscape today, these materials comprise a vital
archive of increasing interest. In addition to papers,
manuscripts, correspondence, teaching materials, and
person mementos, of particular focus are Jackson’s teaching
slides and photography, featuring his unique view of the
material landscape. The Library took his teaching slides, an
organic collection used for lectures, and turned them into an
academic, archival research tool. The transformation of the
image collection brought forth complex issues ranging from
image quality, original order maintenance and context,
copyright, accessibility, and display issues in a digital context.
J.B. Jackson
Born in France to American parents in 1909, Jackson grew up
studying geography in the USA and in Europe. As a university
student Jackson was influenced by the writings of turn-of-the-
Received: 20 March 2012
Accepted: 31 March 2012

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century humanists and critics Lewis Mumford, Oswald Figure 2 Trailer home, a new American home type
Spengler and Irving Babbitt. During WWII Jackson worked
as an army intelligence officer in Europe, mapping terrain in
advance of troop deployment and analyzing aerial imagery
and maps. These skills highly influenced Jackson’s unique
vision of the landscape.
As an educator, Jackson started programs in cultural
landscape studies at both the University of California at
Berkeley and at Harvard University (see Figure 1).
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Jackson taught at each
institution one semester per year. He challenged students to
think about the landscape in a new way, using images to
support his commentary. Jackson was a prolific writer. His
fourteen books include: A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time;
American Space; Landscape in Sight; The Necessity for Ruins;
and Discovering the Vernacular Landscape. He also produced
Landscape magazine in 1951 and served as its editor until
1968.
In between teaching assignments, Jackson kept a house in
La Cienega, New Mexico. Jackson’s observations of the
Southwestern landscape and its unique building types were
often the subject matter of his writings. Jackson was the first Figure 3 Highway commerce and signage
scholar to consider trailer homes a serious house type and
wrote with great reflection about life and the built
environment in working class communities (see Figure 2).
Jackson was also interested in the way that
commercialization and automobiles had profoundly affected
the development of the American landscape, paying particular
attention to roads, highways, roadside architecture, and
signage (see Figures 3, 4 and 5).
At a time when the study of architecture and landscape in
academia focused primarily on high style and designed spaces,
Jackson argued that Americans needed to know about the
ordinary environment and championed the study of the
vernacular. He defined the vernacular landscape as the
geography of everyday places and people and the backbone of
America (see Figure 6).
Significant to Jackson was his interest in the way that people
utilized structures and spaces. Jackson saw the landscape as
an organization of man made spaces, that “establish bonds

Figure 1 J.B. Jackson on BMW motorcycle

Figure 4 1930s whimsical roadside architecture

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 J.B. Jackson, cultural geographer: evolution of an archive
Audra Bellmore, Claire-Lise Bénaud and Sever Bordeianu
Figure 5 Highway gas station with prominent signage
Figure 6 Humble New Mexican home and yard
between people, the bond of language, of manners [. . .] and
the kind of spatial organization which fosters such experiences
and relationships; spaces for coming together, to celebrate,
spaces for solitude, spaces that never change and are always as
memory depicted them”, Jackson (1980). Jackson’s unique
and influential observations about land and culture continue
to serve as an inspiration for scholars.
The Jackson collections at the University of New
Mexico
Background
Jackson donated the majority of this estate to UNM. Funds
from the estate endowed the “J.B. Jackson Professorship in
Cultural Landscape Studies” and the “J.B. Jackson Lecture
Series in the Cultural Landscape.” Personal items, papers and
books were given to various Jackson friends. The literary
executorship of Jackson’s work was assumed by Jackson
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colleague and historian Helen Horowitz of Smith College.
Horowitz inventoried the papers in 1996, before donating
them to the Center for Southwest Research. While the
Horowitz donation was significant, it was determined that
further important Jackson materials existed in the personal
collections of various Jackson colleagues and friends. A
challenge remained to seek out the items and arrange transfer
to UNM.
The J.B. Jackson Collection donated by Helen Horowitz
The J.B. Jackson papers contain typed and handwritten drafts
and manuscripts of books, lectures, essays and articles.
Extensive subject files on topics related to his writings provide
insight into his influences and methods of research. Topics
reflect Jackson’s work and personal interest in landscape
studies, human geography, vernacular architecture, settlement
patterns, and public spaces, focusing on Europe and the USA
(see Figure 4).
The manuscript collection is divided into six overlapping
series. Materials found together at the time of Jackson’s death
were kept together in the collection. Thus, some subject files
are housed with writings or notes, as Jackson may have used
them. While this may not be the most efficient way to organize
a collection for researchers, it does reflect Jackson’s eclectic
approach to research and analysis.
The first series contains Jackson’s writings, including lectures
and lecture notes, book manuscripts, essays, magazine articles,
and writing fragments. This series also contains a journal from
Jackson’s travels around the USA in 1957. The
Correspondence series contains mostly professional
correspondence from the last decade of Jackson’s career. The
Subject Files series includes photocopied book excerpts,
magazine articles, and student and colleague essays, as well
as news clippings and other correspondence. Subjects include
housing, roads, automobiles, land use and city planning. There
are three other series (Illustrations, Library and Bibliography,
and Oversize). Additions to the collection include personal
items and mementos. These keepsakes were displayed on his
mantle in La Cienega. The “mantle” kitsch reveal the most
candid Jackson and express what inspired and delighted him,
from tourist collectibles to local craft.
Paul Groth J.B. Jackson Collection
Paul Groth, a PhD student in the department of Landscape
Architecture at UC Berkeley, worked as a teaching assistant
for J.B. Jackson. Groth remained a colleague and friend of
Jackson’s for the remainder of Jackson’s life. After Jackson’s
death, Groth donated a collection of course materials,
manuscripts, correspondence and personal photographs to
UNM.
Mark Treib’s European Slides
After Jackson’s retirement from Berkeley, he gave his
European slide collection which he used to teach the course
“Studies of European Landscape” at Berkeley, from the
1960s-1980s, to E. Marc Treib, then Professor of
Architecture at Berkeley. In 2009, Dr Treib donated the
image collection to the CSWR.
Paul Groth’s Image Collection
Also in 2009, CSWR contacted Dr. Groth inquiring about the
3,300 item collection of slide images used by Jackson to teach
the course “History of American Cultural Landscape” at
 J.B. Jackson, cultural geographer: evolution of an archive
Audra Bellmore, Claire-Lise Bénaud and Sever Bordeianu
Berkeley. Jackson credits the success of his classes to his
popular slide shows which presented “familiar, everyday
objects and places,”[1] which the students understood and
could relate to. A complement to the Treib donation, the Groth
slides would create a complete set of the Jackson teaching
images. Groth, in correspondence with Helen Horowitz,
understood the necessity of preserving the intellectual record
of Jackson’s teaching and scholarship, immediately and
positively responded to the request for donation. The overall
organization of the Groth teaching slides went from broad to
specific following Jackson’s own organization.
The Groth image donation process proved to be
complicated. While it was generally determined that the
CSWR was the main repository for Jackson materials, the
Environmental and Design Library at Berkeley also desired
these images. Considering that the slides were stored in
Groth’s UC Berkeley office and had been used for Berkeley
courses, a definite case could be made for the items to remain
at Berkeley. However, in an attempt to gather Jackson
materials together in one place making them easily accessible
and the CSWR a primary destination for Jackson scholars,
Groth decided to donate the images to UNM. In a collegial
compromise, the CSWR offered to pay for the immediate
digitization of the images, giving an electronic copy to
Berkeley, which could then be offered for on-campus use by
Berkeley faculty and students.
The CSWR obtained copyright and the ability to offer the
images to a wider audience through its online digital
management system, New Mexico’s Digital Collections
(http:\\econtent.unm.edu). The CSWR would also preserve
the hard copy slide images in the archives. Rather than create
a separate finding guide, the Groth images are described in an
added series statement in the main Paul Groth J.B. Jackson
Collection.
Digitizing the images
Choosing a vendor to process the slide collections required
considerable thought. The slide images were in poor
condition because they had been used extensively as a
teaching tool.
Jackson himself refers to them, some going back to the mid-
fifties, as “very poor slides”.[2] By the time the CSWR
acquired the slides, they were faded and deteriorated over the
many years of use and storage in metal file cabinets. Most
were scratched and dirty, had fingerprints and other marks,
were off in color, or completely out of focus. In most
collections these out of focus images are removed, but in this
case, because of the archival nature of the collection, they
reside alongside others that are properly exposed. Scanned
TIFF files were adjusted in Adobe Photoshop to optimize
color, saturation and contrast.
In order to obtain the image quality necessary for inclusion
into New Mexico’s Digital Collections, each slide needed to be
cleaned, scanned and color corrected. Two Cat Digital based
in California was chosen at the recommendation of the
Environmental Design Library at Berkeley, who had used the
company on several occasions. In April 2010 UNM sent
3,243 slides to be scanned. All were “2 £ 2” with various slide
mounts: plastic, cardboard, and some glass. Slides were
labeled using Jackson’s sophisticated and complex
alphanumeric system with additional information written on
the slide mounts.
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Metadata creation
The archivist decided to keep the original order and the slide
numbering devised by Jackson. Jackson had numbered the
slides up to the individual slide level which proved very useful
when scanning the collection. In addition to numbering,
Jackson wrote descriptions on the slide mounts
(i.e. “Cemetery near Ft Bragg”). These annotations often
include a title, a geographic location, and sometimes a
subject. The slides also include the slide’s processing date.
Without the annotations, these slides would be useless as a
research tool. The annotations proved critical for the
metadata creation. Since the scanned slides only contain
the images, the students who created the metadata used the
original slides in order to have access to the annotations.
New Mexico’s Digital Collections uses Dublin Core as the
metadata schema on the ContentDM platform. While it is a
fairly simple schema, the learning curve was still steep for
students. Creating complete and consistent metadata was
daunting. Elements such as Description and Subject were
particularly challenging. In order to create a quality database,
students processing the images needed subject specialized
knowledge in landscape architecture in order to “read” the
images and come up with further descriptions beyond the
subject headings indicated on the slides – to make sure that
the right descriptive key words had been applied. This type of
project needs students who can devote a significant amount of
time and longevity to develop the expertise for processing.
Students awarded two-year graduate fellowships work best
and can give the longest possible time commitment.
Like most academic libraries, UNM uses Library of
Congress headings in its online catalog and its repository,
LoboVault. It made sense to also use LC headings in New
Mexico’s Digital Collections. However, in practice, this proved
more difficult to accomplish, particularly for subjects. This
part of the metadata creation has to be reviewed by an
experienced cataloger. Adding to the complexity of this
project was the need to add J. B. Jackson’s own subject terms.
These were entered in the Description element under the
nomenclature “Slide identification category.” The CSWR
wanted to ensure that Jackson’s own subjects were included
(e.g. Slide identification category: Land Division, Maps
& Miscellaneous, West Scenery.”).
Jackson’s slides contain a vast array of perspectives to depict
the built environment. It is clear that the purpose of the slides
was a teaching tool, not an artistic endeavor. For example,
some aerial scenes are taken from an airplane as the window
frame is visible in the picture. Some pictures are out of focus.
Esthetic beauty was incidental, not intentional. Not only was
Jackson interested in the built environment, he was also
attracted by the rendered landscape, which he called the
“imaginary landscape.”[3] Himself an artist, he was interested
in representations. Jackson clearly states that “art also belongs
with landscape studies as I interpret them, for it is only when
we begin to participate emotionally in a landscape that its
uniqueness and beauty are revealed to us.”[4] For example, he
includes a slide of a painting of the Lackawanna Valley[5],
which shows a bucolic landscape with a village in the
background – but this pastoral scene is invaded by modern
technology in the form of a steam engine. In other cases, the
painting in the picture is not identified (e.g. Painting of New
England scenery). This approach is contrary to the archivist’s.
Jackson never intended to build an archive.
 J.B. Jackson, cultural geographer: evolution of an archive
Audra Bellmore, Claire-Lise Bénaud and Sever Bordeianu
Copyright and access issues
The issue of copyright to the Jackson images is complicated.
The majority of both the Treib and Groth donated images are
Jackson’s own photographs. Given that Jackson left his estate
to UNM, that both Treib and Groth donated their slides to
UNM, and that Helen Horowitz, as Jackson’s Literary
Executor, worked with UNM to obtain the images, left the
issue of copyright clear for these collections. The UNM
Library has copyright over the photographs taken by Jackson.
However, Jackson planned lectures and then found images
to illustrate his topics. As a result, included in the donated
images were photographs taken from books, magazines,
museums, and some commercially purchased tourist slide
sets. This mélange of provenance makes copyright complex
and it also affects the public display in New Mexico’s Digital
Collections. Rather than eliminate them from the collection,
the images were retained and a tag in the electronic record
indicates that copyright is unknown and that the CSWR
cannot grant permission to publish. The Library is also
restricting the viewing of these images to patrons using a
UNM IP address. But the metadata is viewable to all. The
thought was that these images are educational, representing
Jackson’s thought process and stand as examples of sites
which Jackson deemed important to show his students.
Conclusion
While Jackson’s thoughts and writings persist on graduate
school reading lists and continue to be referenced in further
landscape, built environment and material culture
scholarship, the varied Jackson Collections housed at the
University of New Mexico are the most tangible
documentation of the innovative thinker who changed the
way scholars look at the cultural landscape. Specifically,
Jackson’s teaching slides make up a rich library of electronic
images, easily accessible and available for research and
publication. On a broader level the images provide a look into
Jackson’s unique thought process, seeing the landscape
connected by roads and rail lines, through the wide lens of
the former Army geographer, to the most intimate lens of
small communities and homes.
The Treib and Groth images, the two largest collections,
stand as documentation of Jackson’s interests during the
1960s to the 1980s, his prime period of teaching and
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scholarship. After his retirement, Jackson borrowed back the
slides from Groth. They served as inspiration and illustration
for essays he wrote in the 1990s at his home in La Cienega.
Jackson’s interest in the vernacular was innovative at a time
when architectural and material culture scholarship primarily
focused on high-style and architect designed spaces. In the
words of Helen Horowitz, Jackson considered that architects
should not limit themselves to buildings that only the rich
could afford, and should not ignore “the dwellings and
structures that ordinary people were choosing for
themselves,” and thus “architecture’s true purpose was to
organize space to enhance human existence in structures
expressive of domestic and social life”, Horowitz (1998).
CSWR’s effort to acquire, preserve and make this collection
widely available will inspire future scholars and spark new
ways of looking at landscape.
Notes
1 The Necessity for Ruins, p. 113.
2 The Necessity for Ruins, p. 1.
3 The Necessity for Ruins, p. 20.
4 The Necessity for Ruins, p. 18.
5 Lackawanna Valley, painting by George Inness, 1855.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
References
Horowitz, H. (1998), “J.B. Jackson as a critic of modern
architecture”, Geographical Review, Vol. 88 No. 4,
pp. 465-73, available at: www.jstor.org/stable/215706
Jackson, J.B. (1980), The Necessity for Ruins and Other Topics,
University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, MA, p. 16.
About the authors
Audra Bellmore is Curator of John Gaw Meem Archives of
Southwestern Architecture, Center for Southwest Research.
Audra Bellmore is the corresponding author and can be
contacted at: abellmor@unm.edu
Claire-Lise Bénaud is Associate Director, Center for
Southwest Research.
Sever Bordeianu is a Serials Cataloger and Outreach
Librarian for Foreign Languages.
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