The collection is mainly comprised of digital files (JPGs) created by scanning photographic prints and negatives held by Synergetics, Inc. The original prints and negatives that were scanned date primarily from 1960-1972, but images from later decades also exist here. The originals were also primarily black-and-white, although some ...
MoreThe collection is mainly comprised of digital files (JPGs) created by scanning photographic prints and negatives held by Synergetics, Inc. The original prints and negatives that were scanned date primarily from 1960-1972, but images from later decades also exist here. The originals were also primarily black-and-white, although some later ones are in color. The images depict models of projects, buildings, and structures designed and/or constructed by Synergetics, Inc. Some images are construction shots. Many of the original photographs were taken by Ralph Mills, who had been contracted by the company. Images were scanned by Bill Ballenger in 2005-2006, with the permission of Synergetics, Inc. president T. C. Howard. The collection also includes a small amount of the firm's promotional literature, a few magazines that contain articles about Synergetics, Inc., and a poster celebrating the life of T.C. Howard. Synergetics, Inc., was an architecture and engineering firm based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company was originally established by R. Buckminster Fuller in 1955, but it was later headed by James W. Fitzgibbon and then T. C. Howard. The company designed and constructed commercial, industrial, and institutional buildings, and it developed " . . . systems and structures employing geodesic, tensegrity, and related principles of design, fabrication, and construction." Among the structures designed or constructed by Synergetics, Inc. are the Climatron at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, the Churchill Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair (now the Queens Zoo Aviary), and the Tower of Light at the 1964 World's Fair. Synergetics, Inc. closed in 2006. Bill Ballenger worked for Synergetics, Inc. from 1960 to 1972.
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