Finding Joel Pahl Dardis

Month: September 2022

  • Soap Box Derby, Box 101, 1958

    Soap Box Derby, Box 101, 1958

    This derby took place on July 11, 1958 in Stockton. The pilot’s T-shirts in the images all read Karl Ross Post 16, American Legion. Safe to assume this is about a yearly event to see who qualifies for the All American Derby Down in Akron, Ohio Soap Box Derby. That’s where the real prize money…

  • Smith Canal and RR Tracks, JFC

    Smith Canal and RR Tracks, JFC

    Continuing the scanning of the Jessica Fong Collection sleeves. This time the content of the sleeve had no date on it, just a note to print the contents at 11×14″ enlargement. In spite of lack of a date, there’s a few things to note. First of all, Joel is after “fine-art” images to print, sell…

  • Delta King, JFC, May 1959

    Delta King, JFC, May 1959

    The exact date of this sleeve with 4×5 negatives in Jessica Fong’s collection of Dardis images is May 2, 1959. The Delta King is well known in the Delta area, but I did have to check out the history from a time perspective to make sure the May 2, 1959 date on the sleeve is…

  • Smith & Lang Fire, JFC, July 1958

    Smith & Lang Fire, JFC, July 1958

    There’s a lot written about the Smith & Lang Fire in Stockton, July 22, 1958 already. Scanning 4 x 5 negatives from Jessica Fong’s Collection, I came across these 3 larger negatives. It puzzled me at first, as one wouldn’t necessarily take a 4 x 5 view camera to a fire to report on, but…

  • COP Football, Box 100, 1958

    COP Football, Box 100, 1958

    The rest of of the negatives in box 100 are all related to football matches at COP. There’s of course the Arizona State match of September 27, 1958, but also Brigham Young University (BYU) on October 11, 1958, and finally, Cincinnati on October 18, 1958. I can’t tell from the images alone which negatives belong…

  • Sammy Davis Jr., Box 100, Sep 1958

    Sammy Davis Jr., Box 100, Sep 1958

    Hard to believe we looked through some 100 press format negative boxes since we started this journey in March 2022. Not to count the many Kodachromes and other format negatives Joel photographed between 1938 and now. So far, I’ve scanned 2700+ negatives and shown 2650+ of them. September 27, 1958 is what Joel wrote on…

  • Construction, Box 99, July 1957

    Construction, Box 99, July 1957

    There were few more negatives left to check in box 99. The date for those is Friday, July 19, 1957. All of them are related to construction of what appears to be a commercial structure, possibly with a residential or office add-on within the same lot. There are no further references on the box, so…

  • Salley, Box 99, July 1957

    Salley, Box 99, July 1957

    The date associated with the Salley (sic) images is Sunday, July 14, 1957. There’s a construction subject also with a second date of July 19, 1957. Salley and her mother must have been family friends or close neighbors. Joel would photograph Salley later in life also on other occasions. These photographs were most likely taken…

  • Colorado & Cincinnati, Box 98, Fall 1956

    Colorado & Cincinnati, Box 98, Fall 1956

    There are two locations with dates on this box. Colorado, Sept 22, 1956 and Cincinnati Oct 6, 1956. I found a work pass for Joel under the lid. So he’s photographing on location for COP. Not sure what Joel’s official capacity was, but in light of the work pass, I assume he was invited for…

  • Football, Box 96-97, ca 1955-56

    Football, Box 96-97, ca 1955-56

    Both box 96 and 97 had a few negative frames of COP football embedded. Neither one of the boxes had any reference to a game, but few of the sleeves from the Jessica Fong collection had various notes about football games, without any football game content. In short, I’m not sure which game this is…