Willard Stewart photographs of Delaware

Willard S. Stewart was born February 21, 1915, in Wilmington, Delaware. During the 1930s, he became the primary photographer for the Delaware Federal Writers' Project and photographed numerous Delaware buildings and landscapes.

Many of these images were published in New Castle on the Delaware (1936) and Delaware: A Guide to the First State (1938), both of which were published by the Delaware Federal Writers' Project. Willard Stewart was also a project photographer for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). HABS was established in 1933 by the National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior. Like the Federal Writers Project, HABS was created to give work to unemployed draftsmen, architects, and photographers. The purpose of the photographs and drawings made by employees of the organization was preservation through documentation. Additional photographs of Delaware sites that were taken by Willard Stewart can be seen at "Built In America: HABS/HAER 1933 - Present," part of the Library of Congress's American Memory Web site. Stewart also served as the photographer for other WPA-sponsored projects, including the Index of American Design. Willard Stewart's photographs were also published in a book by M. Thomas Clemons, Wilmington: Wide Is the City (Wilmington, Del.: Hambleton, 1947).

For the better part of his career, Willard Stewart was one of Wilmington's most prominent professional portrait photographers. He maintained studios at Brecks Mill and 1300 Riverview Avenue in Wilmington until his retirement in the 1980s. In 1955, Willard Stewart was awarded the degree of Master of Photography by the Professional Photographers Association of America. The degree is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a professional photographer by the Association, and was awarded to Willard Stewart on the basis of excellence in technique and craftsmanship. He was also the recipient of the James B. Schriever Memorial Plaque from the Professional Photographers' Association of Pennsylvania. Willard Stewart was also an influential teacher of photography. He taught classes at the Winona School of Photography, in Winona, Indiana. He also lectured extensively at photographic seminars throughout New England and Canada. Willard Stewart died on July 12, 2003.

SOURCES:

Willard S. Stewart Obituary. The News Journal. Wilmington, July 16, 2003. B5

Built In America: Historic American Building Survey/Historic American Engineering Record: 1933 - Present. Library of Congress: American Memory. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/html/home.html (accessed October 15, 2003).

United States. National Park Service. Historic American Buildings Survey: catalog of the measured drawings and photographs of the survey in the Library of Congress, January 1, 1938 / compiled and edited by John P. O'Neill. Washington, D.C. : G.P.O., 1938.