Photography

The millions of photographs in the Museum's collections compose a vast mosaic of the nation's history. Photographs accompany most artifact collections. Thousands of images document engineering projects, for example, and more record the steel, petroleum, and railroad industries.

Some 150,000 images capture the history, art, and science of photography. Nineteenth-century photography, from its initial development by W. H. F. Talbot and Louis Daguerre, is especially well represented and includes cased images, paper photographs, and apparatus. Glass stereographs and news-service negatives by the Underwood & Underwood firm document life in America between the 1890s and the 1930s. The history of amateur photography and photojournalism are preserved here, along with the work of 20th-century masters such as Richard Avedon and Edward Weston. Thousands of cameras and other equipment represent the technical and business side of the field.

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Heyman, Ken
ID Number
1982.0545.216
accession number
1982.0545.216
catalog number
82.545.216
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Henle, Fritz
ID Number
PG.004877
catalog number
4877
accession number
197285
Albumen cabinet card of a very tall man wearing a long Chinese robe. The card is captioned "Chang-Yu-Sing, The Chinese Giant / Born at Pekin, 1847, Height over 8 feet, Weight 364 lbs / A. Bogardus & Co. Photo., 872 Broadway, cor. 18th St. N.
Description (Brief)
Albumen cabinet card of a very tall man wearing a long Chinese robe. The card is captioned "Chang-Yu-Sing, The Chinese Giant / Born at Pekin, 1847, Height over 8 feet, Weight 364 lbs / A. Bogardus & Co. Photo., 872 Broadway, cor. 18th St. N. Y." The man's cheeks and a plant in the photograph are tinted. The back of the cabinet card bears marks in Chinese written with a calligraphy pen.
Description
The Circus Collection includes the Photographic History Collection’s object holdings related to the history of circus from the end of the nineteenth to the turn of the twenty-first century. For the purpose of this finding aid, circus is defined as any activity relating to the staging and viewing of circus, sideshow, or “freak show” performances. The collection is primarily composed of thirty cabinet print and thirteen carte-de-visite photographs of performers in circus “freak shows.” Some of these prints are marked with the identities of the individuals depicted, including Chang and Eng, Siamese twins employed by the Barnum & Bailey circus and Tom Thumb, a famous performer with dwarfism. In a number of the photographs, the people who performed for the circus are accompanied by their families, or “normal” individuals to emphasize the distinctiveness of the performer. The collection also includes a photo album with twenty-three photographs of circus performers. These pictures show “freak show” performers, acrobats, and other individuals who may have performed in circus shows.
The collection also includes several books. In the handmade book, Record of an Idle Summer, Florence Albrecht details her summer activities and shares reflections on her time on the Jersey Shore in 1906. In the chapter “May,” the author describes the circus coming to town, including several photographs of circus tents, elephants, and a parade down the main street of the town. P.T. Barnum’s autobiography Struggles and Triumphs also exists in the Photographic History Collection. In the book, Barnum recounts his life’s endeavors, including his New York American Museum and eponymous circus. While there are no photographs in the book, there are a number of illustrations, including a portrait of P.T. Barnum based on G. K. Warren’s photograph, pictures of his museum and various aspects of his traveling show. There is a collection of gelatin silver photographs made in 1972 by Leslie Sussmann and Sally Bordwell documenting carnivals across the American South.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880s
ID Number
PG.74.25.12
accession number
2009.0146
catalog number
74.25.12
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.77.95.M41.03
accession number
1982.0545
catalog number
77.95.M41.03
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Joly, John
ID Number
PG.003831
catalog number
3831
accession number
94767
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
PG.004678.N.1
accession number
187953
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.77.95.M41.02
accession number
1982.0545
catalog number
77.95.M41.02
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
before 1907
ID Number
PG.78.38.13
catalog number
78.38.13
accession number
2018.0225
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Henle, Fritz
ID Number
PG.004878
catalog number
4878
accession number
197285
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.77.95.M41.04
accession number
1982.0545
catalog number
77.95.M41.04
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.77.95.M41.09
accession number
1982.0545
catalog number
77.95.M41.09
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.77.95.M41.01
accession number
1982.0545
catalog number
77.95.M41.01
Press print; various groups of individuals hovering over make-shift tables and cooking pots.From: China people and scenes, Black StarCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
Press print; various groups of individuals hovering over make-shift tables and cooking pots.
From: China people and scenes, Black Star
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1940s
ID Number
2013.0327.0488
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.0488
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1927
Associated Date
1927
maker
Mennie, Donald
ID Number
2013.0327.0177
catalog number
2013.0327.0177
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1927
Associated Date
1927
maker
Mennie, Donald
ID Number
2013.0327.0189
catalog number
2013.0327.0189
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1983
maker
Baughman, J. Ross
ID Number
2010.0231.47
catalog number
2010.0231.47
accession number
2010.0231
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1927
Associated Date
1927
maker
Mennie, Donald
ID Number
2013.0327.0197
catalog number
2013.0327.0197
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1945
depicted (sitter)
Chiang Kai-shek
ID Number
2013.0327.1031
catalog number
2013.0327.1031
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1927
Associated Date
1927
maker
Mennie, Donald
ID Number
2013.0327.0178
catalog number
2013.0327.0178
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1927
Associated Date
1927
maker
Mennie, Donald
ID Number
2013.0327.0193
catalog number
2013.0327.0193
accession number
2013.0327
Press print; a Chinese woman is pushing a cart of 5 young children from verso: "Young children being taken to the park in Beijing"Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Press print; a Chinese woman is pushing a cart of 5 young children from verso: "Young children being taken to the park in Beijing"
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1982
maker
United Nations
ID Number
2013.0327.0234
catalog number
2013.0327.0234
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1927
Associated Date
1927
maker
Mennie, Donald
ID Number
2013.0327.0176
catalog number
2013.0327.0176
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1927
Associated Date
1927
maker
Mennie, Donald
ID Number
2013.0327.0169
catalog number
2013.0327.0169
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1945
ID Number
2013.0327.1025
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.1025

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