Hugo Wilmar Foundation

Hugo Wilmar Foundation

Engelandvaarder, adventurer, top photographer and filmmaker

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Digitizing and Archiving

Behind the scenes we are working hard on digitizing, archiving and researching the family archive. The aim of this is to safeguard and make public the unique cultural-historical archive of top photographer and filmmaker Hugo Wilmar.

Origin

The family archive of Hugo Wilmar consists of all works, documents and correspondence directly related to Hugo Wilmar, which moreover are (or have come into) the possession of the heirs of the Wilmar Family.

The provenance of these documents is broad. Some come from America. These pieces mainly comprise Hugo Wilmar's photographs, portfolio and (business) correspondence.

Part of the archive has also been found in the Netherlands. For example, a large number of letters that Hugo Wilmar wrote in the period 1939 until his death in 1957 have been preserved.

In 2014, Mark Wilmar, Hugo Wilmar's son, brought about a third of the collection from Amerkia to the Netherlands.

Mary Price, Hugo Wilmar's wife, died on April 13, 2019. Much of her family's records were stored in the basement of her home in Madison, Wisconsin. The photos, documents and albums are digitized step by step. Diana Wilmar and David Fox are busy with this.

Finally, contacts with researchers, other archives and online and offline searches have led to new special finds.

Het proces

Most of the photos, which are located in America, are unsorted. Its condition varies from well-preserved prints to warped photographs. Some of these photos have sustained significant (water) damage. These images are sorted first. They are then scanned one by one at high resolution (professionally). If there are notes written on the back of the photo, that too will be scanned.

The photos are then uniquely numbered and archived in acid-free sleeves. This unique number is also reflected in the name of the digital file. This makes everything easy to find later.

metadata

Because the photo prints are often mixed up, a lot of time and research goes into finding out when and where they were made. We do this with desk research, and visual reference with other photos. This is how we examine photo by photo. The information found is added to the metadata of the digital file.

In addition to 1000's of photos, the family archive contains several photo albums and hundreds of documents. These documents contain the letters Hugo Wilmar wrote to his parents during his lifetime. We also have correspondence between Hugo and Mary and the Disney producers in Burbank, California. These documents provide a detailed picture of how the True Life Adventure movies “White Wilderness” and “Jungle Cat”.

Storage

In the meantime, the size of the digital family archive has increased to more than 1 terabite. The files are “stored redundantly. This happens in several places. Both offline and in the Cloud.

The original prints and documents are neatly stored in acid-free folders. Part of the physical family archive is located in the Netherlands. Another part of this is safely stored in America.

Diana Wilmar is busy digitizing a photo album of Hugo Wilmar, her father.
Digitizing a photo album

Hugo Wilmar Foundation

Geestbrugkade 32
2281CX Rijswijk
E: hello@hugowilmar.nl
T: +31 (0) 6-24769895
The Netherlands

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Masterpieces

Famous last words

The American people are otherwise nice: there were large signs everywhere with “WELCOME HOME SKINNY” (Skinny) something we would not easily do in Holland with someone who has just received the highest accolade. Hugo Wilmar Quote from letter to parents dated September 28, 1945
(…) So I finally walked around London after half a year at large, (..); I had yet to start! Hugo Wilmar Quote from letter to parents, July 17, 1945
My dear, these are not for you, they are for my batteries. I must keep my batteries warm so they will operate, because if they freeze up my camera won't work, and if my camera doesn't work, we may as well stay home. Mary Wilmar Article: I love Polar Bears (1955)
I managed to reprint one of the photos, but should not say it too loudly. Hugo Wilmar Quote from letter to parents dated September 28, 1945
(…) As far as publication is concerned, it is blocked and prevented as much as possible. Disgraceful! Hugo Wilmar Quote from letter to parents, May 29, 1946
(…) The dyed jaguar kitten has faded so rapidly within the last 2 weeks (although the hair on my hands is still black) that he has become completely unusable and as a matter of fact looks terrible. † Hugo Wilmar Letter to Mary Eddy, October 28, 1957
The Dutch people live in the firm conviction that we are sitting here in our beautiful Indies and that we are lucky. Hugo Wilmar Quote from letter to Jan van Eyk, May 29, 1946
The song of fear dominates the night. The unrecognizable sounds, every time, wherever you were. Henk van Slooten Quote from an interview with Henk van Slooten about the Dutch East Indies and Hugo Wilmar
Caught in flight like a game bird Mary Wilmar Epitaph grave Hugo Wilmar
Incognito and using American. “Slang” I cheated the entire republic for 2 weeks. Hugo Wilmar Quote from a letter to Jan van Eyk, January 17, 1948
(…) I ended the year 1947 - worthy of a rock-hard Marine - quite singular and original. Hugo Wilmar Quote from letter to his father, January 17, 1948
(…) Jan, America is, in a word, pussies, so shit pussies, that I'll go back later and I've often thought about why you never came. Hugo Wilmar Quote from a letter to Jan van Eyk, January 29, 1946
Holland – England was generally miserable; the food position hopeless; the road: long, dangerous but magnificent; people and organizations: unreliable, powerless, also afraid. (…) Hugo Wilmar Quote from letter to parents, July 17, 1945
It is disappointing to see that most of the rare scenes are almost all set up with care either with the help of tame animals or by means of captive specimens placed in a grid invisible to the viewer Hugo Wilmar Letter to parents dated June 8, 1954
It isn't everyone who gets the opportunity to spend a few months in the Arctic photographing its wildlife. Mary Wilmar Article: I love Polar Bears (1955)
As free as a petrel on the Atlantic Hugo Wilmar Quote from a letter to Jan van Eyk, January 29, 1946
…) Few people in the world are paid to hunt for deer and fish for trout, and in such a grand environment. Hugo Wilmar Quote from letter to parents, July 7, 1952

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