Photography

Leica 35mm Camera

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.

Culture: African Americans

Women in a department store

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1984
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0032
accession number
2017.0306
catalog number
2017.0306.0032

pages, carte-de-visite album

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1864 circa
ID Number
2018.0124.04k
accession number
2018.0124
catalog number
2018.0124.04

feeding the chickens

Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr. (1862–1932) used a wide variety of printing processes, printing out some negatives in more than one medium.
Description
Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr. (1862–1932) used a wide variety of printing processes, printing out some negatives in more than one medium. In his lectures, he pointed out that this approach to photography was important because in the hands of a photographer who “lives and understands the infinitely varied moods of nature, photography can be made to express and interpret them.” In correspondence with Dr. Olmstead at the Smithsonian, as the presentation of his gifts and bequest to the museum was being arranged, Eickemeyer wrote: “The collection illustrates the use of every important process and will, I believe, be of real educational value.”
The first of the Eickemeyer photographic collection came to the National Museum’s Department of Arts and Industries (the “Castle”), Division of Graphic Arts in 1922 at the close of a large exhibition of Eickemeyer’s work at the Anderson Gallery in New York. It was a gift from the photographer of five framed prints from the New York show that he considered representative of his work.
In 1929, Eickemeyer gave the Smithsonian 83 framed prints (including copies of the prints that he had previously given the museum), 15 portfolios, his medals and awards, and several miscellaneous photographic paraphernalia. In 1930, he made a will bequeathing most of his remaining prints, negatives, photographic equipment and other objects relating to his 30-year career as a photographer to the Smithsonian Institution.
Upon Eickemeyer’s death in 1932, an accession consisting primarily of photographic equipment from his studio came to the Smithsonian. Included in the bequest were 2 cameras, several lenses, scales, timers, printing frames, plate holders, dry mounters and a lecture case with slide projector and hand-colored lantern slides. Also included were 43 albums, journals and portfolios and assorted negatives and contact prints, many marked “discards.” There are 58 albums, notebooks and portfolios in the collection. Eickemeyer requested in his will that his gifts and bequests be called The Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr. Collection.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890
maker
Eickemeyer, Jr., Rudolf
ID Number
PG.004135.B112.14
catalog number
4135.B112.14
accession number
106456

young African American child in white dress

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.1340
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.1340

pages, carte-de-visite album

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1864 circa
depicted
Thumb, Tom
Warren, Lavinia
ID Number
2018.0124.04h
accession number
2018.0124
catalog number
2018.0124.04

Snapshot of Young Boy at Table

Photograph albums and amateur snapshots reflect the importance of cherished family memories. Casual and personal, these snapshots document everyday life and generations of families. Here a young boy enjoys his milk at the kitchen table.Currently not on view
Description
Photograph albums and amateur snapshots reflect the importance of cherished family memories. Casual and personal, these snapshots document everyday life and generations of families. Here a young boy enjoys his milk at the kitchen table.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1940s-1960s
maker
unknown
ID Number
1999.0281.042
catalog number
1999.0281.042
accession number
1999.0281

Black Panthers, Anti-Vietnam War Rally. Kezar Stadium, San Francisco, CA. 1967

With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture.
Description
With her camera, Lisa Law documented history in the heart of the counterculture revolution of the 1960s as she lived it, as a participant, an agent of change and a member of the broader culture. She recorded this unconventional time of Anti-War demonstrations in California, communes, Love-Ins, peace marches and concerts, as well as her family life as she became a wife and mother. The photographs were collected by William Yeingst and Shannon Perich in a cross-unit collecting collaboration. Together they selected over two hundred photographs relevant to photographic history, cultural history, domestic life and social history.
Law’s portraiture and concert photographs include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Lovin Spoonful and Peter, Paul and Mary. She also took several of Janis Joplin and her band Big Brother and the Holding Company, including the photograph used to create the poster included in the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum’s exhibition 1001 Days and Nights in American Art. Law and other members of the Hog Farm were involved in the logistics of setting up the well-known musical extravaganza, Woodstock. Her photographs include the teepee poles going into the hold of the plane, a few concert scenes and amenities like the kitchen and medical tent. Other photographs include peace rallies and concerts in Haight-Ashbury, Coretta Scott King speaking at an Anti-War protest and portraits of Allen Ginsburg and Timothy Leary. From her life in New Mexico the photographs include yoga sessions with Yogi Bhajan, bus races, parades and other public events. From life on the New Buffalo Commune, there are many pictures of her family and friends taken during meal preparation and eating, farming, building, playing, giving birth and caring for children.
Ms. Law did not realize how important her photographs were while she was taking them. It was not until after she divorced her husband, left the farm for Santa Fe and began a career as a photographer that she realized the depth of history she recorded. Today, she spends her time writing books, showing her photographs in museums all over the United States and making documentaries. In 1990, her video documentary, “Flashing on the Sixties,” won several awards.
A selection of photographs was featured in the exhibition A Visual Journey: Photographs by Lisa Law, 1964–1971, at the National Museum of American History October 1998-April 1999.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1967
date printed
1998
maker
Law, Lisa
ID Number
1998.0139.064
catalog number
1998.0139.064
accession number
1998.0139

page, carte-de-visite album

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1864 circa
ID Number
2018.0124.04d
accession number
2018.0124
catalog number
2018.0124.04

the long way home

Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr. (1862–1932) used a wide variety of printing processes, printing out some negatives in more than one medium.
Description
Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr. (1862–1932) used a wide variety of printing processes, printing out some negatives in more than one medium. In his lectures, he pointed out that this approach to photography was important because in the hands of a photographer who “lives and understands the infinitely varied moods of nature, photography can be made to express and interpret them.” In correspondence with Dr. Olmstead at the Smithsonian, as the presentation of his gifts and bequest to the museum was being arranged, Eickemeyer wrote: “The collection illustrates the use of every important process and will, I believe, be of real educational value.”
The first of the Eickemeyer photographic collection came to the National Museum’s Department of Arts and Industries (the “Castle”), Division of Graphic Arts in 1922 at the close of a large exhibition of Eickemeyer’s work at the Anderson Gallery in New York. It was a gift from the photographer of five framed prints from the New York show that he considered representative of his work.
In 1929, Eickemeyer gave the Smithsonian 83 framed prints (including copies of the prints that he had previously given the museum), 15 portfolios, his medals and awards, and several miscellaneous photographic paraphernalia. In 1930, he made a will bequeathing most of his remaining prints, negatives, photographic equipment and other objects relating to his 30-year career as a photographer to the Smithsonian Institution.
Upon Eickemeyer’s death in 1932, an accession consisting primarily of photographic equipment from his studio came to the Smithsonian. Included in the bequest were 2 cameras, several lenses, scales, timers, printing frames, plate holders, dry mounters and a lecture case with slide projector and hand-colored lantern slides. Also included were 43 albums, journals and portfolios and assorted negatives and contact prints, many marked “discards.” There are 58 albums, notebooks and portfolios in the collection. Eickemeyer requested in his will that his gifts and bequests be called The Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr. Collection.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1890
maker
Eickemeyer, Jr., Rudolf
ID Number
PG.004135.B112.01
catalog number
4135.B112.1
accession number
106456

pages, carte-de-visite album

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1864 circa
ID Number
2018.0124.04b
accession number
2018.0124
catalog number
2018.0124.04

Five women sitting with legs crossed in front of blackboard

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1970-1980s
maker
Baughman, J. Ross
ID Number
2010.0231.01.066
catalog number
2010.0231.01.066
accession number
2010.0231

How de Debbie does dey Make a Bicycle

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 1800s
maker
Strohmeyer & Wyman
ID Number
2016.0066.244
accession number
2016.0066
catalog number
2016.0066.0244

Two women seated at edge of sidewalk

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1984
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0048
catalog number
2017.0306.0048
accession number
2017.0306

Young boy in Angel costume

people at Christmas; color photograph of a young African-American child wearing an angel costumeCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
people at Christmas; color photograph of a young African-American child wearing an angel costume
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
2019.0012.0027
catalog number
2019.0012.0027
accession number
2019.0012

Martin Luther King Jr.

black and white photograph; African American man standing behind a podium with several microphones wearing a suit, dark tie and pocket square; he is gesturing with his right hand; image of Martin Luther King Jr.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
black and white photograph; African American man standing behind a podium with several microphones wearing a suit, dark tie and pocket square; he is gesturing with his right hand; image of Martin Luther King Jr.
Location
Currently not on view
depicted (sitter)
King, Jr., Martin Luther
maker
Zalesky, Roy Joseph
ID Number
2017.0306.0129
catalog number
2017.0306.0129
accession number
2017.0306

Cotton Picking No. 3

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
PG.293320.0706
accession number
293320
catalog number
293320.0706

Young boy in doorway

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1953-09
maker
Leipzig, Arthur
ID Number
2019.0273.0002
accession number
2019.0273
catalog number
2019.0273.0002

Apollo Theater Marquis, Harlem

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Falk, Sam
ID Number
PG.69.99.014
catalog number
69.99.014
accession number
281224

Two young African-American girls

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
before 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.1280
catalog number
1986.3048.1280
nonaccession number
1986.3048

Woman balancing a record on her head

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1970-1980s
maker
Baughman, J. Ross
ID Number
2010.0231.01.041
catalog number
2010.0231.01.041
accession number
2010.0231

Pounding Rice

Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr. (1862–1932) used a wide variety of printing processes, printing out some negatives in more than one medium.
Description
Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr. (1862–1932) used a wide variety of printing processes, printing out some negatives in more than one medium. In his lectures, he pointed out that this approach to photography was important because in the hands of a photographer who “lives and understands the infinitely varied moods of nature, photography can be made to express and interpret them.” In correspondence with Dr. Olmstead at the Smithsonian, as the presentation of his gifts and bequest to the museum was being arranged, Eickemeyer wrote: “The collection illustrates the use of every important process and will, I believe, be of real educational value.”
The first of the Eickemeyer photographic collection came to the National Museum’s Department of Arts and Industries (the “Castle”), Division of Graphic Arts in 1922 at the close of a large exhibition of Eickemeyer’s work at the Anderson Gallery in New York. It was a gift from the photographer of five framed prints from the New York show that he considered representative of his work.
In 1929, Eickemeyer gave the Smithsonian 83 framed prints (including copies of the prints that he had previously given the museum), 15 portfolios, his medals and awards, and several miscellaneous photographic paraphernalia. In 1930, he made a will bequeathing most of his remaining prints, negatives, photographic equipment and other objects relating to his 30-year career as a photographer to the Smithsonian Institution.
Upon Eickemeyer’s death in 1932, an accession consisting primarily of photographic equipment from his studio came to the Smithsonian. Included in the bequest were 2 cameras, several lenses, scales, timers, printing frames, plate holders, dry mounters and a lecture case with slide projector and hand-colored lantern slides. Also included were 43 albums, journals and portfolios and assorted negatives and contact prints, many marked “discards.” There are 58 albums, notebooks and portfolios in the collection. Eickemeyer requested in his will that his gifts and bequests be called The Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr. Collection.
The Eickemeyer accessions have remained remarkably intact over the past 50 years. With the exception of his medals and trophies (there is no record of these objects coming to the Museum of American History with the remainder of the collection), and the contact prints and negatives (his discards), most of the objects were assigned catalogue numbers and were clearly marked more than half a century ago.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1894
maker
Eickemeyer, Jr., Rudolf
ID Number
PG.004135.B046.17
accession number
106456
catalog number
4135.B46.17

Governor Bill Clinton, Annie M. Bankhead, and Rosalynn Carter

Diana Walker, color: Governor Bill Clinton, Annie M.
Description
Diana Walker, color: Governor Bill Clinton, Annie M. Bankhead, and Rosalynn Carter, Pine Bluff, Arkansas, July 23, 1979, at Arkansas Grassroots Jamboree.
From https://www.arkansasbirthingproject.org/single-post/2017/03/02/abp-honors-arkansas-female-pioneer-annie-mae-bankhead:
In observance of Minority Health Month, we'd like to honor the memory of several significant Arkansas women for the next few weeks. Numerous Black women have fought for the right to freedom, healthy communities and self sufficiency in Arkansas. A noted figure in Arkansas history is Mrs. Annie Mae Bankhead. Annie Mae Bankhead was born in Mississippi on December 16, 1904 , and moved with her parents in 1926 to College Station, Arkansas, a small community southeast of Little Rock. She devoted her life to improving the community, organizing the first Young People's Church Club and helping to register voters. In the 1960's, she organized the Progressive League of College Station, in order to help bring city water, gas and electric utilities into the community. She also organized and promoted the Head Start program for preschoolers, and represented Arkansas in 1966 on President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty Advisory Committee.
Ms. Bankhead helped establish a credit union, health clinic and the YMCA in the College Station community. She served as a member of the Arkansas Electoral College to cast a vote for Jimmy Carter for president. She received many other rewards during her life time, including among them: Woman of Conscience Award from the National Council of Women of the United States; the National Brotherhood and Humanitarian Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews; and the Distinguished Citizen's Award from the Governor's Office of Volunteerism and KARK-TV, Channel 4; the Human Interest Award from the Jefferson Comprehensive Care Center Inc.; was named Woman of the Year in 1971 by the Arkansas Democrat; was also named Senior Peacemaker of Arkansas by the Arkansas Peace Center in 1984. She died on January 28, 1989. Her legacy lives on…."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1979-07-23
depicted (sitter)
Clinton, Bill
Parks, Rosa
Carter, Rosalynn
maker
Walker, Diana
ID Number
2003.0250.014
catalog number
2003.0250.014
accession number
2003.0250

A worker at "Ant Bumpy's" soul food restaurant

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
2000-08-04
maker
Kennerly, David Hume
ID Number
2003.0005.129
accession number
2003.0005
catalog number
2003.0005.129

Pledge of Allegiance

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
2003
maker
Shames, Stephen
ID Number
2005.0239.01
catalog number
2005.0239.01

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