Lillian Virginia Mountweazel (1942–73) was an American photographer born in Bangs, Ohio.

After shifting from fountain design to photography in 1963, she gained recognition for her acclaimed portraits of the South Sierra Miwok in 1964.

Mountweazel was later awarded government grants to create a series of photo-essays on unusual subjects, including New York City buses, Parisian cemeteries, and rural American mailboxes. Her work on mailboxes was exhibited widely and published in 1972 under the title Flags Up!

Tragically, Mountweazel died at the age of 31 in an explosion while on assignment for Combustibles magazine.

We are pleased to welcome you to the digital archive of the Lillian Virginia Mountweazel Research Collection.

This comprehensive repository is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the life* and work of Lillian Virginia Mountweazel, an influential photographer and artist whose contributions have significantly impacted the world of visual arts.

Whether you are a scholar, student, or enthusiast of photography and art history, the Mountweazel Research Collection offers valuable resources and inspiration. Discover the stories behind her iconic photographs, understand the contexts in which she worked, and appreciate the legacy she left behind.

Thank you for visiting, and we hope your journey through the collection is both enlightening and engaging.

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Fountain Design

At just 16 years old and still a student at George K. Broomhall High School, Mountweazel won a public design competition for the Korean War Veterans of Ohio Memorial in downtown Beatosu. Sponsored by Klick Klick-Klack Taps and its owner, World War I veteran Sergeant Eduardo Corrochio Jr., the competition drew 1,421 submissions. Though a small town with a current population of 4,640, Beatosu was once known as the tap dancing capital of the Midwest, thanks to the Klick-Klack factory—a major employer until it burned down under mysterious circumstances shortly after Mountweazel's death. Mountweazel’s winning design was unveiled to the public in June 1960. In 2007, the Western Ohio Institute of Architects ranked the memorial No. 2 on their list of Western Ohio’s Favorite Memorial Architecture. Despite numerous sketches and designs in our archive, it remains Mountweazel's only known completed work.

Flag's Up!

Flag's Up (1972) was a photo collection commissioned by the United States Post Office Department to promote their newest innovation: the ZIP code. The project aimed to highlight the efficiency and modernization of the postal system through captivating imagery. It was later revealed that the project was actually funded by the Congress for Cultural Freedom, a front organization used by the CIA during the Cold War as part of their propaganda efforts against the Soviet Union. The intent was to showcase the creativity, intellectual freedom, and logistical prowess of the United States. While the collection was exhibited and promoted both domestically and abroad, all U.S. printed copies were tragically destroyed in a mysterious warehouse fire. Initially, blame was directed toward a disgraced former organizer of the 1970 United States postal strike. However, the case was dropped after an embarrassing revelation that the primary suspect was deathly allergic to fire, casting doubt on their involvement. Despite the controversy and loss of the original prints, Flag's Up remains a significant, albeit elusive, part of Mountweazel's legacy. The collection reflects a unique intersection of art, politics, and history during a turbulent era, highlighting the often unseen influences behind cultural projects. The photographs in our possession come from what is believed to be the only known surviving copy of the Flag's Up book, recovered by a researcher at an estate sale in Providence, Rhode Island.

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NYC Buses

Mountweazel made a significant contribution to the EPA’s Documerica project by focusing her photography on New York City buses. Documerica was an environmental photography initiative aimed at documenting and raising awareness about various ecological and social issues across the United States. Through her efforts, Mountweazel provided a compelling visual narrative that supported Documerica’s mission to promote environmental and social awareness. She was driven by her fascination with internal combustion engines, Mountweazel delved into both the mechanical intricacies of the buses and their environmental impact. Tragically, all the negatives from this part of her photo essay were lost in a mysterious fire at the bag check of The Brewster Residence in Brooklyn, New York. Despite this setback, her remaining photographs vividly captured the vibrant activity of the city’s public transportation system, showcasing buses as vital connectors of diverse communities. Mountweazel’s work highlighted not only the functionality of the buses but also the daily lives of New Yorkers who rely on them, emphasizing the relationship between urban transit and environmental sustainability.

Parisian Cemeteries

Mountweazel produced a State Department–sponsored photo essay on Parisian cemeteries, prominently featuring the graves of esteemed thinkers like Oscar Wilde and Van Morrison. Motivated by her admiration for literary and artistic legacies, she sought to honor these influential figures through evocative images that captured the tranquil beauty of their final resting places. Her essay not only showcased the serene landscapes of historic cemeteries but also highlighted the transnational creative connections that these icons embodied. One of her most intriguing photographs, known from several journal entries, was titled Portrait de la jeune fille en feu. This image depicted the grave of Marianne Cannes, a critically underrecognized late eighteenth-century painter. Tragically, while Mountweazel wrote about this photograph in her journal, no known copies of the image exist today. Her close friend, the writer Héloïse Borges, recounts that Mountweazel explained the loss by saying the negatives flew out of her bag on the tarmac of Paris Orly Airport and were incinerated when they were sucked into the turbine of the plane she was boarding—a time when passengers had to walk up stairs to board flights. This mysterious accident erased a significant piece of her artistic legacy, leaving only the memory of her dedicated work to honor cultural heritage.

Combustibles Magazine

Our extensive collection of Combustibles Magazines showcases the all-photographic American publication dedicated to both literal and metaphorical combustible topics, with a strong emphasis on the former. During its heyday in the 1960s and 70s, Mountweazel completed several notable assignments for the magazine, covering a range of subjects from the whimsical history of fireworks to the disturbing revelations about Wernher von Braun, NASA's head during its prime, and his collusion with Nazi Germany. Tragically, Mountweazel died in an explosion while on assignment for Combustibles. A Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic passenger airliner, performing at a nearby airshow, crashed into the small village she was documenting—the focus of her story on the negative health effects of sound pollution in communities near major international airports. Pierre Menard, a photojournalism scholar, regards her contributions for the magazine as "one of the most important in the world of pyromaniac publishing."

*Mountweazel was originally brought into this world as a copyright trap by the editors of the New Columbia Encyclopedia.

All the materials presented here as her works are authentic pieces created by other photographers, repurposed or collaged from media that are in the public domain. Key sources include the Flickr Commons, particularly the EPA’s DOCUMERICA program, and the Wikimedia Commons .