Fred Smith's interest in conservation, outdoor recreation, and the environment predate his association with Laurance Rockefeller. Yet because of this interest and Mr. Smith's talent in public relations and politics, he often acted as Mr. Rockefeller's representative, and his involvement in numerous commissions, committees, conferences, and organizations is documented throughout these files.
This collection documents the creation, implementation, and general activities of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission from 1949-1964 with the bulk of the material dated between 1958 and 1963. The collection consists primarily of background material relating to members of the Outdoor Recreation Resources Review Commission, as well as correspondence between Laurance Rockefeller and his advisors, reports, studies, and speeches given by Laurance Rockefeller and others.
From an early age, Laurance S. Rockefeller (LSR) was an avid photographer, and his photograph collection reflects this appreciation, along with the broad range of his activities and interests. The LSR Photographs collection is sorted into several component groupings, loosely based on format, storage location (home or office), or use (e.g., Photo Reference files), at the time his collection was arranged and catalogued.
LSR Photographs, RG 1, Photo Files contains the bulk of LSR's loose photographic prints from his home and his office, along with some albums and slides. RG 1 is a composite collection. It contains LSR's loose or "flat" photo files, but also materials that for various reasons were not included in the other collection components at the time the collection was organized. RG 1 encompasses personal and family photos, as well as photographic documentation of LSR's business and civic activities. The Rockefeller Family Office's Public Relations files on Laurance and Mary French Rockefeller have also been included as a series in RG 1. Similarly, the photographs and albums from the former Series 1009 Photos (LSR Family) are now interfiled with RG 1.
LSR's Slide Notebooks, contains slides from the late 1940s to the early 1980s, taken mainly by LSR. The slides consist primarily of travel photos, from Mary and Laurance's trips to the Caribbean, Africa, Europe, and the U. S., in the 1950s; as well as various images of family travel, activities, and homes (including Woodstock, VT; Pocantico; and, especially, Wyoming).
RG 4, LSR's Snapshot Files, contains LSR's personal photos, relating especially to his family, houses, friends and activities, travel, and resort developments. The Snapshot Files label reflects the smaller format of the prints (up to 5" x 7") and their grouping into discrete sets of prints and negatives, which are housed together in individual (and sometimes in their original) photo envelopes.
