Bill Cunningham’s Unseen Scrapbooks

The New York Times street photographer’s early visual diaries are exposed at the New-York Historical Society. Bill Cunningham’s Unseen Scrapbooks https://nyti.ms/2JoRA0I Image CreditPeter Garritano for The New York Times By Matthew Schneier June 8, 2018 They are two thick, cardboard-bound books, their pages yellowed with age, their covers cracked and peeling. Between the two of them, they tell the story of 20 or so years in the life and work of William J., the society lady’s hat maker who was — in the words of one of his own advertisements — “The wildest! The maddest! The most fabulous!!!” William J. is better known to history as Bill Cunningham, the self-effacing photographer and documentarian of style who documented generations of New York fashions from his regular perch on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street for the “On the Street” column of The New York Times. But for decades before that, as a milliner, he catered to Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Josephine Baker. As one undated newspaper article put it: “Beach hats are his meat and fish are his décor. Lobsters, octupi [sic] and other denizens of the deep sit whimsically on his chapeaux. Twenty-seven years old and Harvard-educated, William J. is the newcomer who startled millinery circles with his fruit and vegetable collection of beach hats last year.” (Never mind that he dropped out of Harvard within months, instead seeking his fortune in New York.) Clippings like these make up the two scrapbooks seen here, which will be part of the New-York Historical Society exhibition, “Celebrating Bill Cunningham,” starting on June 8. Debra Schmidt Bach, the museum’s curator of decorative arts, said that as far as she is aware, they have never been displayed before. Image CreditPeter Garritano for The New York Times Image CreditPeter Garritano for The New York Times They contain magazine and newspaper clippings, advertisements and personal photos, the occasional bit of local what-have-you. (A ticket stub for the original Broadway production of “My Fair Lady” in 1956: $7.50.) You have 4 free articles remaining. Subscribe to The Times “He was pulling inspiration for his hats from a whole range of different worlds and knowledge bases,” Dr. Schmidt Bach said. “That’s something I didn’t know until I looked in the scrapbooks. He had collections based on Egyptian art, collections based on the legend of Robin Hood. He just drew from a whole range of art and social events. They’re manifested in his collections.” The scrapbooks have been digitized so that visitors will be able to page through excerpts from them, and Mr. Cunningham’s voice — courtly and unfailingly polite — rings through, even if his distinctive Boston accent does not. (About the opening of his new West 54th Street atelier, rechristened William Jay, after his Korean War service: “After a two year tour of duty overseas in the armed forces, I have designed and prepared a new collection of exciting and wearable hats for your approval. May I have the pleasure of again serving you as in the past?” reads an announcement card.) More details on this phase in Mr. Cunningham’s life and career will arrive in the fall, with the publication of his posthumously discovered memoir, “Fashion Climbing.” The exhibition also includes hats by William J., hat boxes, photographs from his “Façades” series of New York architecture and fashion, his first camera, his bicycle, his famous blue jacket and a sign from his Southampton summer shop. EDITORS’ PICKS She Found Comfort in a Brooklyn Diner, Then Lost Everything The 25 Best American Plays Since ‘Angels in America’ When Anti-Trump Evangelicals Confront Their Brethren But the scrapbooks are the world arranged by his own hand, a glimpse through the William Jay salon window. It remains open through Sept. 9. Image CreditPeter Garritano for The New York Times Image CreditPeter Garritano for The New York Times Image CreditPeter Garritano for The New York Times Image CreditPeter Garritano for The New York Times Image CreditPeter Garritano for The New York Times Image CreditPeter Garritano for The New York Times Image CreditPeter Garritano for The New York Times Image CreditPeter Garritano for The New York Times A version of this article appears in print on June 9, 2018, on Page ST6 of the New York edition with the headline: Bill Cunningham’s Unseen Scrapbooks. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe