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Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center
• Archive & Finding
Aids
GUIDE to the
DEVERE HELFRICH RODEO PHOTOGRAPHS, 1941-1970
JOHN DEVERE HELFRICH (1902-1981). 37,369 Negatives, 1941-1970.
Location: File Cabinet.
Introduction:
The 1962 championship edition of the
Prorodeo Sports News declared DeVere Helfrich "the world’s
greatest rodeo photographer." In its 1982 championship edition
it claimed that he "will forever be ranked as one of the top
rodeo photographers of all time, no matter who comes along with what
degree of talent in the future."
Biography:
The "Dean of Rodeo Photography" inducted into Rodeo Hall
of Fame on December 1, 1991, John DeVere Helfrich (pronounced Helfrick)
was born on April 16, 1902 in eastern Oregon at Lamonta, Crook County,
12 miles west of Prineville. He was the son of John Helfrich, Jr.
and Clara Minnie McCoin. In 1910 Helfrich started school at Lamonta
and in 1916 graduated from the 8th grade in Terrebonne. His uncle,
Walt McCoin, owned a ranch near Redmond where as a boy he punched
cows and wrangled wild horses. In 1916 he began high school in Prineville
and graduated from Bend in May 1920. After attending one year of
college at University of Oregon, Helfrich returned to Bend to work
at the First National Bank. Unhappy with his financial prospects
there, he quit this job and did odd jobs until becoming involved
with the construction of irrigation ditches.
On August 2, 1926 Helfrich married Helen Grace Reed who was born
October 29, 1907 in Bend, Oregon to Lou and Bessie Tuck Reed. At
the time Helfrich was employed in the office of the Central Oregon
Irrigation District in Redmond, Oregon. On January 1, 1930 they
moved to Tumalo, Oregon where Helfrich was employed as secretary-manager
of the Tumalo Irrigation District for the next three years. In 1933
they purchased a new and used furniture business in Redmond and
moved the store to 833 Klamath Avenue in Klamath Falls. In 1939
they sold the store to Harry Hafter and bought Meriloe's Ice Cream
Store at 337 E. Main Street.
Because of the lack of ingredients for ice cream and candy and parts
for equipment during wartime rationing, they closed the store in
1942. "When World War II came, it ruined our business,"
Helfrich recalled, "There was no sugar to make ice cream."
DeVere worked at a sawmill for Kal-Pine Plywood in Keno and, for
a time he, his wife, and two daughters (Darle Bernice and Delores
Helen) worked at Crater Lake Creamery until the war was over. DeVere
also worked in the surveying of the air base and the Marine hospital.
Around 1939 Helfrich took a liking to rodeo, particularly the recording
of it by photography. Jerry Ambler, bronc rider and friend, encouraged
Helfrich to photograph rodeos. DeVere had an auspicious beginning
as a rodeo photographer when he won the World's Championship Rodeo
Corporation's best picture of the year prize in 1941 for the image
of Gene Pruett on Everett Colborn's Colonel Dean at the Prairie
City, Oregon Rodeo. He was on his way to become one of the pioneering,
image-capturing trinity or what rodeo photographer fans called "the
big three"- Ralph Russell Doubleday, John Addison Stryker,
and John DeVere Helfrich.
Photography had been Helfrich’s
hobby before the rodeo circuit. Because film was scarce during the
war, Helfrich, at times, had only a limited number of negatives
to expose so each one had to count. His original camera in the 1940s
was a speed Graphic camera. A professional partnership was formed
between DeVere and Helen. They would travel by station wagon to
rodeos where they would park alongside the trailer houses of the
contestants. Thousands of miles were logged and some years only
two months of the year were spent at home... just long enough to
pick up mail, wash clothes and mow the lawn. Originally, the Helfrichs
would set up makeshift darkrooms in motel bathrooms. Later, they
acquired a trailer with a built-in darkroom. From a well-equipped
laboratory at their Klamath Falls home, they printed photographic
postcards, fulfilled orders and shipped prints to customers.
Helfrich had only three principles which guided him in shooting
good pictures. He became a student of the individual animal's style
which enabled him to anticipate movement and positioning. He understood
that stock contractors wanted pictures of wildly bucking animals
and that contesting cowboys wanted pictures of them riding well.
Helfrich explained, "I like to work about 30 to 40 feet from
the action. The photographer has to be in time with the horse, not
just the rider. The best time to get the picture is when the cowboy's
feet are forward and the horse's hooves are just off the ground."
The fruit of these principles is seen in the 1956 image of Bill
Ward on Sea Lion at San Angelo, Texas which was adapted for use
as the official emblem of the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association
(PRCA).
Helen and DeVere were the official photographers for the PRCA until
retiring in 1967. Both actively pursued a hobby of following and
researching the history of early emigrant trails. They compiled
a trail guide published by Trails West Inc., a group which marked
these trails. In 1964 DeVere was appointed editor of Klamath
Echoes, an annual history of communities in the Klamath area
by the Klamath County Historical Society. In 1971 DeVere and Helen
assumed the publication and continued it until 1978.
DeVere was diagnosed with cancer in 1977. On September 1, 1981 he
died at Merle West Medical Center in Klamath Falls, Oregon of metastic
adenocarcinoma of prostate. He was buried at Klamath Memorial Park
in Klamath Falls. Helen died peacefully on July 30, 1989 at Klamath
Falls. Their daughters were married - Darle Bernice Helfrich to
Buff Runnels and Delores Helen Helfrich to John Scott.
Scope and content:
The DeVere Helfrich Photographic Collection is comprised not only
of 37,369 negatives ranging in size from 80x110mm to 62x62mm to
35mm, but also of fourteen log books. The log books, dating between
1941 and 1970, list the negative number, caption or title of image,
the location/rodeo venue and date, and darkroom processing notes.
Additionally, there is a small collection of negatives with an associated
log book dating between 1951 and 1952 which document horse race
finishes and winner portraits at Walla Walla, Waitesburg, Dayton,
and Pomeroy in Washington; Pendleton and Union in Oregon; and Red
Bluff, California.
The log books are organized in the following manner
| |
Title
|
Neg
#s |
Dates
|
| |
Book
I |
58A
- 5633 |
1941-1949 |
| |
Book II |
5634-6677C |
1950 |
| |
Book III |
6678-8777 |
1950-1953 |
| |
Book IV |
8778-10327 |
1954-1955 |
| |
Book V |
10328-13007C |
1955-1958 |
| |
Book VI |
13008-17008 |
1958-1960 |
| |
Book VII |
17009-18556 |
1960-1961 |
| |
Book VIII |
18557-20009 |
1961-1962 |
| |
Book IX |
20010-21658 |
1962-1963 |
| |
Book X |
21659-22785-16 |
1963 |
| |
Book XI |
22786-24542 |
1964 |
| |
Book XII |
24543-26680 |
1964-1965 |
| |
Book XIII |
26681-29125 |
1965-1967 |
| |
Book XIV |
29126-29460 |
1968-1970 |
The data from these log books were entered into a local ACCESS-based
database which can be accessed in the Research Center. While the
negative numbers Helfrich applied range from 58A to 29460, on
occasion a number might represent more than one negative and as
many as 20. This accounts for the discrepancy between a total
one would expect as being 29,400 and what in reality is 37,369
negatives. Documented in Book VI in December 1959 are Helfrich’s
experimental efforts at the first National Finals Rodeo with different
film, speeds, cameras, and processing chemistry and procedures
ostensibly to produce quality images without the benefits of a
flash. Helfrich documented the activities and events of the National
Finals Rodeo between 1959 and 1966.
Over 5,300 personal names, not including bulls and horses names,
are represented in this collection. The personal names, listed
in the index terms below, represent individuals who have fifty
or more images recorded by Helfrich. Over 3,000 horses names and
over 400 bulls names are documented and recorded pictorially.
There are 18 different states and 132 different venues documented.
In addition to a brief excursion into Cloverdale, British Columbia
and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Helfrich recorded rodeos in Arizona, California,
Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New
Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah,
Washington, and Wyoming. Venues for which there are over 1,000
images include Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma, Los Angeles, Red Bluff,
San Francisco, Denver, Sidney, Klamath Falls, Pendleton, Dallas,
Ellensburg, and Cheyenne. Over 400 images have been identified
as emerging from Helen Helfrich's camera.
Subject Terms:
Personal Names:
| |
Abbott,
Buck
Adams, Don
Akridge, Eddy, 1929-
Ambler, Jerry, 1911-1958
Armstrong, Dean
Bausch, Jim
Belyeu, Ray, 1939-1966
Beutler, Lynn, 1905-1999
Bishop, Jerry
Blesing, Wag, 1920-
Boag, Bill, 1933-1958
Bothum, Jim
Bride, Tom
Brooks, Wallace
Brown, Freckles, 1921-1987
Brown, Leo
Bruce, Duane
Bruce, Winston, 1938-
Bryant, Dick
Buell, Ralph
Burnett, Boyce
Buschbom, Jack
Carson, Jack
Charles, Jim
Charters, Harry
Chase, Joe
Clennon, Bart, 1910-
Combs, Willard
Condon, Larry
Conway, Ed
Copenhaver, Deb, 1925-
Crump, Pete
Davis, Jim
Davis, Shawn, 1941-
Decker, Tater, 1924-
Dollarhide, Ross
Dygert, Bill
Edwards, John
Eidson, Bob
Enos, Manuel, 1918-
Fedderson, Bill
Federer, Tuffy, 1929-1971
Finley, Frank
Finley, Luther
Flanigan, Dan
Flynn, Sammy
Fore, Lawson, 1920-1995
France, Bert
Fredricks, Pete
Frost, Clyde
Gore, Les
Green, Joe
Griffith, Mac
Hancock, Bill, 1917-
Hand, Billy, 1933-
Hartman, Bill
Hawkins, John
Helfrich, DeVere, 1902-1981
Hill, Clinton
Hixon, Jerry
Hobdey, Daryl
Holmes, Marvin
Horn, Shorty
Howard, Duane, 1933-
Isley, Mike
Ives, Laurel
Ivory, Buster, 1923-
Ivory, June, 1923-
Johnson, Les
Jones, Malcolm
Kane, Larry
Kornell, Bill
Kunkle, Bill
Lancaster, Leonard
Lawrence, Bill
Like, Jim, 1918-
Linderman, Bill, 1920-1965
Linderman, Bud, 1922-1961
Linderman, Walt
Lowe, George
Maddox, Dwight
Madland, Jim
Madland, Kenny
Martin, Tex
Martinelli, Bill
Mason, Walt
|
May, Harley,
1926-
Maynard, Bob, 1928-
Mayo, Don, 1939-
Mayo, Paul, 1942-
McCoin, Numa
McCravey, Leonard
McKenna, J. D.
McLean, Kenny
Melinda, Mickey
Mendes, Carl, 1919-1996
Menkenmaier, George, 1927-1958
Miles, Gene
Mitchell, Johnnie
Myren, George
Nafzger, Carl
Nelson, Alvin
Noble, Harry
Oliver, Dean, 1929-
Peak, Buddy, 1933-
Peth, Wick, 1931-
Plaugher, Wilbur, 1923-
Pruett, Gene, 1917-1987
Ragsdale, Bob
Rambo, Gene, 1920-1988
Raymond, Ronnie Wayne, 1940-1994
Reidhead, Dave
Reiners, Dennis
Reynolds, Benny, 1936-
Rinestine, Bill, 1934-
Roberts, Gerald, 1919-
Robinson, Bob
Robinson, Bob A.
Rockabar, Rocky
Roddy, Jack
Rodriguez, Jim, Jr., 1941-
Roeser, Jim, 1933-1997
Rossen, Ronnie, 1937-1991
Rosser, Cotton, 1928-
Rutherford, Buck, 1929-1988
Schricker, Mark, 1939-
Schumacher, Jim
Seeley, Buzz
Sharpe, Bud
Sheppard, Bob
Sheppard, Chuck, 1916-
Sherman, Jack
Shoulders, Jim, 1928-
Smith, Bill, 1941-
Smith, Dale, 1928-
Smith, Lyle
Spurling, Jack
Stanton, Kenny
Stephanson, Slim
Sublette, Joel
Sullins, Walt
Swaggert, Cecil
Swaim, Bob
Templeton, Paul
Tescher, Jim
Tescher, Tom
Thommason, Ike
Tibbs, Casey, 1929-1990
Toelle, Don
Tompkins, Harry, 1927-
Travis, Bud
Tureman, Sonny, 1918-1995
Tyler, Gene
Tyler, Glen
Vamvoras, Clyde
Vold, Wayne
Walker, Enoch, 1932-1979
Ward, Bill, 1923-1992
Warhol, Ted
Watts, Bill
Weeks, Billy, 1926-1988
Weeks, Guy, 1932-
Wegner, Bob, 1934-
Williams, Corinne
Williams, George
Wilson, Don L., 1930-1996
Wise, Jim, 1934-
Wood, Marty, 1933-
Wright, Jackie
Wyatt, Larry
|
Corporate Names:
National Finals Rodeo
Rodeo Information Commission
Rodeo Cowboys Association
Rodeo Information Foundation
Subject Headings:
| |
Bareback riding
Barrel racing
Bull riding
Calf roping
Cowboys-1940-1970
Group portraits
Portrait photographs
Rodeo clowns
Rodeos-1940-1970
Rodeos-History-1940-1970
Rodeos-United States-History
Rodeos-West (U.S.) |
| |
Rodeos-Arizona- |
| |
|
Douglas, Phoenix, Safford,
Scottsdale, Tucson, Yuma |
| |
Rodeos-California- |
| |
|
Alturas, Angels Camp, Cedarville,
Chico, Clovis, Dixon, Dorris, Dublin, Escalon, Fortuna, Glendale,
Hanford, Hayward, Likely, Livermore, Los Angeles, Lower Lake,
McArthur, Newhall, Oakdale, Palm Springs, Paso Robles, Porterville,
Red Bluff, Redding, Salinas, San Bernardino, San Francisco,
San Jose, Santa Maria, Saugus, Sonora, Willits, Yreka |
| |
Rodeos-Colorado- |
| |
|
Boulder, Colorado Springs,
Denver, Golden, Gunnison, Pueblo |
| |
Rodeos-Idaho- |
| |
|
Lewiston, Nampa |
| |
Rodeos-Iowa- |
| |
|
Sidney |
| |
Rodeos-Kansas- |
| |
|
Phillipsburg |
| |
Rodeos-Montana- |
| |
|
Augusta, Billings, Bozeman,
Butte, Ekalaka, Eureka, Great Falls, Havre, Kalispell, Livingston,
Shelby |
| |
Rodeos-Nebraska- |
| |
|
Burwell, Springfield |
| |
Rodeos-Nevada- |
| |
|
Fallon, Las Vegas |
| |
Rodeos-North Dakota- |
| |
|
Dickinson |
| |
Rodeos-Oklahoma- |
| |
|
Oklahoma City |
| |
Rodeos-Oregon- |
| |
|
Beatty, Cottage Grove,
Crater Lake, Crawfordsville, Dayton, Eugene, Grants Pass,
Heppner, John Day, Klamath Falls, Lakeview, Langell Valley,
Lebanon, Madras, Medford, Milton-Freewater, Molalla, Pendleton,
Poe Valley, Portland, Prairie City, Prineville, Redmond, Reedsport,
Roseburg, Sisters, Spray, St. Paul, Tygh Valley, Union |
| |
Rodeos-South Dakota-
|
| |
|
Deadwood, Nemo, Sioux
Falls |
| |
Rodeos-Texas- |
| |
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Dallas, San Angelo |
| |
Rodeos-Utah- |
| |
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Ogden, Salt Lake City |
| |
Rodeos-Washington- |
| |
|
Arlington, Colville,
Coulee City, Dayton, Ellensburg, Goldendale, Grand Coulee,
Keller, Mt. Vernon, Okanogan, Omak, Oroville, Spokane, Sunnyside,
Tonasket, Toppenish, Walla Walla, Wenatchee, Yakima |
| |
Rodeos-Wyoming- |
| |
|
Cheyenne, Evanston, Greybull,
Laramie, Sheridan |
| |
Saddle bronc riding
Steer roping
Steer wrestling
Team roping
Trick riding
Wrecks (Rodeo)
|
Accession Information:
In a letter dated September 19, 1972, Frances "Flaxie"
Fletcher, National Cowboy Hall of Fame Secretary of the Rodeo
Division quite tersely asked Helen "if you might consider
selling all your Rodeo negatives to the National Cowboy Hall of
Fame." Helen responded in the affirmative through a letter
dated September 25, 1972. In a letter dated October 20, 1980 DeVere
and Helen Helfrich offered to sell their collection to the National
Cowboy Hall of Fame & Western Heritage Center (now the National
Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum). On March 13, 1981, an agreement
was reached and the Museum purchased and accessioned the collection.
ProcessingInformation:
During the early 1990s, the negatives were removed from non-archival
paper sleeves, numbered with the appropriate catalog number (the
Helfrich negative number), and rehoused in polypropylene sleeves
which in turn were numbered with the corresponding number. The
collection was filed in a large microfilm storage cabinet.
Beginning in June 1999, and ending in early 2000, the data from
the log books were entered into the local ACCESS-based database.
All fields were reviewed for consistency and quality control.
Ownership & Literary Rights:
The DeVere Helfrich Rodeo Photographs is the property of the Donald
C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center, National Cowboy
& Western Heritage Museum. Literary right, including copyright,
belongs to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, with
the exception of copyrighted images and published literary works,
which are the property of the respective copyright holders. It is
the responsibility of the researcher, and his/her publisher, to
obtain publishing permission from individuals pictured, relevant
copyright holders, and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage
Museum.
Restrictions on Access:
This collection is open for research. Researchers are advised
to discuss their research prior to visiting the Center.
Preferred Citation:
DeVere Helfrich Rodeo Photographs, Catalog ##, Dickinson Research
Center, National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City,
OK.
Container List:
The images and data in this collection are searchable with the
assistance of staff through a local database available to researchers
in the reading room. |
