HERMAN W. KITCHEN (AMERICAN, D. 2003) PERSONAL COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND PRINTS
Collection includes significant wildlife and natural history photography, artistic photos by Kitchen and others. Multiple photos of Armand Denis and Robert Cotlow during their African expedition in Tanganyika, the former British territory, miscellaneous wildlife photography. Two (2) photographs of the Taj Mahal and an indigenous tribe signed Merl LaVoy (1885-1953) who was a photographer and documentary cinematographer who traveled the four corners of the world, earning him the title of “The Modern Marco Polo”.

Other interesting articles including Lewis Cotlow correspondence in the form of a hand-written letter from Lewis Cotlow 480 Park Avenue, New York 22, New York, the letter head reading, "Dear Herman: I cant seem to locate a plane picture that might be suitable for your purpose. Perhaps you can use one of the enclosed. All the best, Lew". Larger format negatives of Jacques Cousteau and the SP-350 exploration vessel, artic and underwater photos. A 1940's print of Pancho Villa (Mexican, 1878-1923) General of the Mexican Revolution and his gang from an original 1913 photograph and hand notated lower right, "To Herman Kitchen, with my best regard. Carl Von Hoffman, Ojinaga Mexico 1913.

Carl von Hoffman (c. 1889 in St. Petersburg or Latvia, Russia – 8 July 1982 in New York, US) was a soldier, adventurer, author, and photographer of German ancestry. He was possibly a descendant of Melchior Hoffman; journalist Nicholas von Hoffman is his son.

In 1905 or 1906, von Hoffman—then a military cadet—disobeyed his mother's wishes and joined the Russian army during the Russo-Japanese War. For actions during the war he was awarded the Order of St. Anna. He participated in World War I, serving in the Russian army, and then under Admiral Kolchak on the White Russian side in the Russian Civil War. Von Hoffman claimed to have been on the Roosevelt-Rondon Scientific Expedition in 1913; however, Theodore Roosevelt does not mention him in his memoir of the expedition, but footage proving von Hoffman's presence can be found here.

Von Hoffman was an explorer who once led a safari from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cairo—a walk that took him three years and was the basis of his two books, Jungle Gods (New York, H. Holt and Company, 1929) and Jerry on Safari: A 7,000 Mile Journey from Cairo to the Cape (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1936). Von Hoffman's photographs of the Mexican Revolution and of Theodore Roosevelt were celebrated; his photographs of Roosevelt and Pancho Villa were exhibited in 2002 at the Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum. He was the cinematographer for films including The Life of General Villa, (1914), featuring Pancho Villa himself. The movie was produced by D. W. Griffith. Von Hoffman often said his knowledge of the use of machine guns was one of the things Griffiths offered Villa to gain his participation in the movie. (In 2003, the filming of the documentary about Villa was turned into a TV movie, And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself, directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Larry Gelbart with the minor role of von Hoffman played by Julian Sedgwick.) Von Hoffman was also cinematographer of The Marriage Bond (1916) directed by Lawrence Marston. He was a member of the Explorers Club. He was also an Honorary Life Member and past president (1962) of the Adventurers' Club of New York.

Armand Georges Denis (2 December 1896 – 15 April 1971) was a Belgian-born documentary filmmaker. After several decades of pioneering work in filming and presenting the ethnology and wildlife of remote parts of Africa and Asia, he became best known in Britain as the director and co-presenter of natural history programs on television in the 1950s and 1960s.

Lewis Cotlow (born February 5, 1898 – died 1987) was an American explorer, writer, filmmaker, and fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, who served in the US Army during World War I and became a supercargo with the United States Merchant Marine. After attending George Washington University he made more than 30 expeditions to Africa, South America, Indonesia, and the Arctic, the Amazon, Australia, and New Guinea from 1930s - 1950s to film. His first technicolor movie was filmed on location in Africa and was co-produced with Armand Dennis. In his lifetime, Mr. Cotlow was awarded the Explorers Club Medal and Order of Magellan and was a member of The Explorers Club.

Herman W. Kitchen was an award winning wildlife film maker and photographer. He is best known for his films, "Bird of Freedom", circa 1983 and "Birds of Seven Continents", circa 1987.
His series, "Animal Secrets" aired on NBC from from 1966-1967.
In addition, he was the former Vice President/Director of The Explorers Club NYC and President of the Adventurers Club, USA.

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