Houston on the Move: A Photographic History by Steven R. Strom (review)

When a single photographer captures thousands of images of a single city, his work establishes an irreplaceable physical archive for understanding that place and its history. The works of Bob Bailey, a Houston-based photographer who took over 500,000 images of Houston and its region across five decades, represent such a shaping collection.

In Houston on the Move, Steven R. Strom presents a rich collection of Bailey's photos, drawn from the Bailey Studios archives housed at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin. Strom situates Bailey's work as a key record of Houston's undulating transformations over the course of the twentieth century.

One of the strengths of the book is that it looks beyond the photographs and into Bailey's life. Strom argues that the photographer effectively straddled the line between being an artistic and a commercial photographer. While the bulk of Bailey's work was done for commercial clients, there is no missing the artistic care with which he approached a store display or a promotional aerial photo.

The photos, of course, capture the story of Houston and its growth, but the work is served well by its focus on Bailey. Centering the photographer as an artist helps readers understand his view of the city. It also serves as a reminder that photographs, as historic objects, are shaped by their creator.

Strom curates Bailey's photos to track Houston's ascent from a small, bustling regional city into a sprawling suburban region between 1930 and 1990. While the narrative created by the photos tends toward the nostalgic "loss" of downtown, there is no doubt that Bailey documented an incredible transition. And, for Houston, a place with a develop-first reputation, where nothing seemed sacred, the photos of the city in the past are undoubtedly powerful.

Bailey's photos are especially strong in their ability to document the growth of the region's consumer culture—particularly its retail and department store development. Bailey was a commissioned photographer for stores like Foley's and the Loew's Theatre company. More broadly, Strom succeeds in shedding light on other strengths of the Bailey collection—namely architecture, recreation, and celebrity. From Howard Hughes to the famed Shamrock Hotel and Astrodome to Rice University football, Bailey documented a range of events in Houston's history. Each offers researchers a detailed look into the past, and Bailey's prolific collections provide a rich source set.

Similar to other photo collections, the histories presented in the captions could have been fleshed out to provide additional context for readers, especially those not familiar with Houston. Overall, the book could have used additional textual framing, perhaps in the form of short introductions to each section. Such additions would have let Strom reflect on the apparent limits of Bailey's collection, for as much of the city as Bailey documented, there is much of Houston's past left unrecorded. There are few images of Houston's African American or Mexican American populations, for example. Additional text would have allowed Strom to grapple with this limitation and remind readers that the Houston that Bailey experienced and photographed was not the only Houston.

For readers interested in Houston and its growth, Bailey's photographs are an essential and rich source. Strom has done an admirable job in presenting them as such. For Houstonians or those fond of the city and its past, Strom has put Bailey's best works forward. Collectively they present a compelling image of the city on the move.