Jane Ross Photography Collection
A 1943 Henderson graduate, Ross served as an Army photographer during WWII, owned and operated a portrait studio, and established the Ross Foundation, a philanthropic organization. Her work includes a wide range of photographs taken during trips to the American Southwest and to Europe in the early 1950's, as well as images taken in rural Clark County and in locations acrowss the nation. Many of these photographs demonstrate her use of tinting and early color photography.
About Jane Ross
Jane Ross (December 23, 1920 – July 9, 1999) was born in Arkadelphia on December 23, 1920, to Hugh Thomas Ross and Esther Clark Ross. She had one sister. Ross grew up in Arkadelphia and graduated from Arkadelphia High School in May 1938 and from Henderson State Teachers College with a BA in May 1942.
Ross served as a US Navy photographer for a time in 1943, and then enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps of the Army Air Force on July 17, 1944. She served for the remainder of World War II. Assignments as a photographic technician took her to Wilmington, Delaware and Manchester, New Hampshire. For her service during the war, she received the Good Conduct Medal, American Theater Medal, and the Victory Medal. She was discharged from the Army on January 31, 1946, with the rank of Corporal.
Following the war, her love for photography led Ross to study color photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, the home of Eastman Kodak. She received her degree from the Rochester Institute in 1947. When Ross returned to Arkadelphia following the war, she opened a studio, Photos by Ross. She owned and operated this portrait studio from 1948 to 1955, but was forced to close the studio to concentrate on the family business following the death of her father. Her grandfather, J. G. Clark, had amassed a fortune in the timber business in South Arkansas, beginning in the late 1880s. After the death of her father in 1955, Ross became chairwoman of her family's timber industry business, and was heiress to that fortune.
In 1966, Ross and her mother established the Ross Foundation, a philanthropic organization. Following her mother's death the following year, Ross became the chairwoman of the Ross Foundation, while also remaining chairwoman of the timber business. In 1972, she helped found the Clark County Historical Association, which is still in operation today. Ross continued her active involvement with the Ross Foundation as trustee and chair for thirty-two years, until her death on July 9, 1999.
Collection Description
The Jane Ross collection contains artifacts from a lifetime of photography, including slides, prints, negatives, and framed art, in addition to an assortment of cameras and related equipment. The collection also includes over fifty scrapbooks that Ross created over the years. The photos within document her days in the Army and the Rochester Institute in the 1940s, a European tour, travels through the American Southwest and Mexico in the 1950s and 60s, scenes from Arkansas throughout the decades, and more.
The suggested citation to the collection is:
Jane Ross Photography Collection, Huie Library Special Collections Department, Henderson State University.