A former director of the International Museum of Photography, Newhall is best known for his study of the progression of photography as an art form and a medium of communication. His books include History of Photography, The Daguerrotype in America, and Airborne Camera. The 70-year-old Newhall has also been involved with photographic study at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

His citation: His life's work, ever in focus, records the striking growth of the youngest of the visual arts.

President Bok this morning conferred honorary degrees on:

John Cheever, novelist--Doctor of Letters;

Erik H. Erikson, psychologist, educator and professor of Human Development Emeritus--Doctor of Laws;

Helen H. Gilbert '36, former president of the Board of Overseers--Doctor of Laws;

Vernon E. Jordan Jr., executive director of the National Urban League--Doctor of Laws;

Ephraim Katchalski-Katzir, former president of Israel and biochemist--Doctor of Science;

Seretse M. Khama, president of Botswana--Doctor of Laws;

Beaumont Newhall '30, author and photographic historian--Doctor of Arts;

James D. Watson, molecular biologist and discover of the structure of DNA--Doctor of Science;

Roy Wilkins, former executive director of the NAACP--Doctor of Laws;

A. Bartlett Giamatti, Renaissance scholar and president-elect of Yale University--Doctor of Laws; and

Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, exiled Soviet novelist--Doctor of Letters.