Archives & Manuscripts #14 - International League of Antiquarian ...

20 (Photography). Bette S. Garber. Trucker Photographs. 1942-1992. $14,500
A collection of more than 500 photographs and
negatives from Bette S. Garber (1942-2008), whom
The New York Times called the Cartier-Bresson of
American trucking. The B&W and color photos,
taken while she was working for American Trucker,
Trucker News, and Roadstar, date from the 1970s
to the early 1990s and capture the teamster
lifestyle with images of drivers, trucks, racing,
social gathering, and support industries such as
distribution centers, truck stops, farms markets,
etc. The majority of the photographs are loose with
a handful matted and framed, plus another 600
photographs of her childhood and family in photo
albums or loose photo pages. Overall near fine with
a third of the photographs with adhesive remnants
on the rear from being removed from an album;
another smaller group with tape remnants and
minor wear.
Garber grew up in Chicago and graduated from
the University of Illinois in 1967 with an English
degree. After several years as
a copywriter in the fashion
industry, she married Charles
Garber who founded the
electron microscope company
Structure Probe in 1970. It was
while on the road in support
of his company that she began
speaking to truckers on her CB
radio and became intrigued
with their freewheeling
lifestyle. She became a staff
writer for American Trucker
(founded as Mother Trucker
News) after her marriage ended, traveling around
the country with her dogs taking pictures of all she
encountered. She later became editor-at-large for
Heavy Duty Trucking magazine and ran a stockphoto
agency, Highway Images, in addition to
publishing four books on custom semi-trucks in the
early 2000s.
Garber’s coverage of the trucking life at first
confounded many in the male-dominated industry
but she quickly won adherents and became a
regular at most events with truckers happily posing
for pictures. She was purported to have gone to
any length to get a photograph, including flagging
down trucks on the highway, tying herself to the
roof of moving vehicles, and once even suspending
herself off an overpass while traffic rambled by
below. Her specialty was custom semis with aftermarket
modifications and outlandish paint jobs,
of which there are a few photos in this collection,
but it was in photographs of the everyday working
trucker that she excelled.
The more than 500
photographs in this collection
include numerous shots of
truckers on the job driving,
working on trucks, and posing
with their rigs and fellow
drivers. An equal number
show truckers socializing at
various festivals and gatherings,
predominantly race events
where the big rigs competed
(sans trailers) along with