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.

Family photograph albums hold the history of generations, preserving the memories of birthdays, holidays, travels, and all general aspects of life.
Description
Family photograph albums hold the history of generations, preserving the memories of birthdays, holidays, travels, and all general aspects of life. African American Mary Taylor used her 35mm Bell and Howell camera to document her family's life in the black community of Los Angeles, California, during the mid-20th century. She turned a discarded wallpaper sample book into a treasured family heirloom.
Taylor's family photographs including 19th-century tintypes, turn-of-the-century hand-colored portraits, and albums from the 1950s to the 1970s provide insight into the African American experience in the United States over the past century.
Wallpaper sample book used by the donor as a photo album. Contains approximately 842 black and white, and color photographs of unidentified people, mostly African-Americans. Most images were taken in and around unidentified residences. Some identified locations include San Francisico, Los Angeles, Disneyland and Marineland. Also includes newspaper clippings, as well as lithographs of flowers cut from a 1958 calendar.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1960
maker
Taylor, Mary A.
ID Number
2002.0103.02
accession number
2002.0103
catalog number
2002.0103.02
Volume I and Volume II of Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War were published in 1866. Each album contains fifty photographs of different scenes of the Civil War and is accompanied by text written by Gardner. These are rare books, each produced by hand.
Description
Volume I and Volume II of Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War were published in 1866. Each album contains fifty photographs of different scenes of the Civil War and is accompanied by text written by Gardner. These are rare books, each produced by hand. Just a few sets were sold as they were very costly to produce and, after the Civil War, many Americans were looking forward, trying to move on from the death and destruction of the war.
Alexander Gardner was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1821. Before coming to America in 1856, he was trained as a jeweler and a chemist, but was more interested in the fairly new invention of photography. After immigrating to New York, he worked for Mathew Brady in his photographic studios in New York and Washington, D.C. After disagreeing with Brady over the photographer's rights to receive credit for their pictures, he left that studio in and started his own business in 1862 in Washington, DC, where his most famous subject was Abraham Lincoln. Gardner not only took the last posed photograph of Lincoln in February of 1865, but also photographs of his funeral and the hanging of the conspirators in his assassination. Besides Lincoln, Gardener also took pictures of Supreme Court Justices, visiting delegates, and other government figures.
During the Civil War, Gardner became a photographer for the Army of the Potomac. He took pictures of not only non-battle scenes, such as military camps, but also the immediate aftermath of battles. He later combined his photographs of the war with those of his staff photographers, and wrote the two-volume book, Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War, for which he became most famous. Gardner died in 1882 in Washington, D.C.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1866
maker
Gardner, Alexander
ID Number
1986.0711.0334
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0334
Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War was published in 1866. Each of the two albums contains fifty photographs of different scenes of the Civil War and is accompanied by text written by Gardner. These are rare books, each produced by hand.
Description
Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War was published in 1866. Each of the two albums contains fifty photographs of different scenes of the Civil War and is accompanied by text written by Gardner. These are rare books, each produced by hand. Just a few sets were sold as they were very costly to produce and, after the Civil War, many Americans were looking forward, trying to move on from the death and destruction of the war.
Gardner was born in Paisley, Scotland in 1821. Before coming to America in 1856, he was trained as a jeweler and a chemist, but was more interested in the fairly new invention of photography. After immigrating to New York, he worked for Mathew Brady in his photographic studios in New York and Washington, DC. In 1862, after disagreeing with Brady over photographers' rights to receive credit for their pictures, he left his studio and started his own business in Washington, DC, where his most famous subject was Abraham Lincoln. Gardner took not only the last posed photograph of Lincoln in February 1865, but also photographs of his funeral and the hanging of the conspirators in his assassination. He also took pictures of other government figures such as Supreme Court Justices and visiting delegates.
During the Civil War, Gardner became a photographer for the Army of the Potomac, taking pictures of not only non-battle scenes, such as military camps, but also the aftermath of battles that had just taken place. He later combined his photographs of the war with those of his staff photographers and published the two-volume book Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War, for which he became most famous. Gardner died in 1882 in Washington, DC.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1866
maker
Gardner, Alexander
ID Number
1986.0711.0283
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0283
Album of photographs taken by Harry A. Spencer during his tour of service in the United States Army during World War I. The album has a black leather cover stamped with the word "Photographs" that has separated from the spine.
Description
Album of photographs taken by Harry A. Spencer during his tour of service in the United States Army during World War I. The album has a black leather cover stamped with the word "Photographs" that has separated from the spine. A gelatin silver photograph of a piece of artillery is attached to the front below the title. The album is composed of fifty black paper pages on which silver gelatin photographs have been mounted with hand-written captions beneath. The pages are tied together near the spine with a black woven shoelace. The album details Spencer's life while he served in the military during the war, including his time at Camp Greene in North Carolina, and travels through Memphis, Tennessee, New York City, England, France, Belgium, Germany, and Colorado. See accession file for reference reproduction of Spencer's album created by the donor, Spencer's grand-daughter Kathi Wong.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1918-1919
ID Number
2009.0129.01
accession number
2009.0129
catalog number
2009.0129.01
Photo album of country music performers. Ninety-three (93) color photographs labeled with performers name, date, and occasionally venue.
Description
Photo album of country music performers. Ninety-three (93) color photographs labeled with performers name, date, and occasionally venue. Performers include: Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner (May 27, 1972), Mack Magaha, Buck Trent, Jane Downing and Brother Mack, Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter (May 29, 1972), Billy Reynolds, Liz Anderson, Cathy Glick, The Carter Brother's Show, The Sheltons, Crazy Elmer, Jean Valli, Jim Ed Brown (June 17,1972) and the Gems, Melba Montgomery and Del Reeves and the Good Time Charlies (June 24, 1972), Susan Oliver, Bob Luman, Gus and Joanne Thomas, and Wilma Burgess. Locations: Richland, Boscov's East, Schaefferstown, Ontalaune, Shartlesville (state or states unknown) USA. May 27, 1972--Aug. 3, 1975, months range March--September.
These snapshots were taken in the summer of 1972 by an unidentified fan. The album documents a variety of country music performances in small, local venues, from a time when fans could easily take snapshots and gather autographs of favorite performers. It is likely the woman in the upper left corner is the maker of the album, and perhaps the young man in brown, right edge, is her son.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1972-1975
1972-05-27 through 1975-08-03
depicted (sitter)
Parton, Dolly
Wagoner, Porter
Trent, Buck
Jennings, Waylon
Colter, Jessi
Reynolds, Billy
Anderson, Liz
Carter Brothers
Shelton Brothers
Crazy Elmer
Brown, Jim Ed
Gems
Montgomery, Melba
Reeves, Del
Luman, Bob
Burgess, Wilma
maker
unknown
ID Number
2001.0291.01
catalog number
2001.0291.01
accession number
2001.0291

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