Dennis W. Pett Papers 1943-1986; MSS-104

Dennis W. Pett Papers 1943-1986; MSS-104

The Dennis W. Pett Papers include articles, publications, and ephemera dating from 1943 to 1986. The collection is arranged in seven series.

Biographical Note:
Dennis W. Pett earned his diploma from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Photographic Technology in 1949. Later, he completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Science and both a Master’s and Doctoral degree in Audio Visual Communication at Indiana University. In 1951, Pett accepted a joint appointment with the Indiana University School of Education and the Audio Visual Center, which he maintained until 1989. In addition to administering the Audio Visual Center, Pett taught a variety of courses including Media Utilization, Graphics, Photography, and Visual Perception. Pett has been responsible for numerous workshops and institutes, including the ICIA/NAVA Institute for Effective Communication and the Institute of Professional Development. He has given presentations on such topics as Color Theory, Visual Literacy, and Materials Design and Development. A member of the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA), Pett is a past Executive Secretary for the IVLA as well as a former Editor of the Visual Literacy Newsletter. Pett has also published articles on Visual Literacy, Instructional Media, and Audio Visual Production.

Scope and Content Note:
The Dennis W. Pett Papers include articles, publications, and ephemera dating from 1943 to 1986. The collection is arranged in seven series.

Series I: Visual Literacy  Notebooks contains articles and papers that Pett collected documenting the fields of visual literacy, photography, and education. These materials were originally received in notebooks that Pett organized into certain fields relating to Visual Literacy. Each folder title in the series is “Book”; each book represents a specific subject. Pett’s original contents lists for each book can be found in the first folder of each “Book.”

Series II: Notebook Additions contains articles and papers that Pett collected, apparently with the intention of adding them to the notebooks housed in Series I. Also dealing with visual literacy, education, and photography, the articles have numbers assigned by Pett corresponding to the notebook numbers.

Series III: Bibliographies contains bibliographies collected by Ron Sutton dealing with visual literacy, photography, and other related subjects.

Series IV: Visual Literacy: Learning To See, Seeing To Learn houses a paper defining visual literacy and showing how photography can be used in schools, especially at the elementary level. Series V: Polaroid Education Project includes examples of materials and programs developed by the Polaroid Corporation using photography and illustrations four use in elementary and secondary school education.