Photography - Overview
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.
"Photography - Overview" showing 140 items.
Page 1 of 14
A whiteface steer charging the camera
- Description
- Early in 1937, Mydans traveled to Texas to compile his first photo essay for LIFE magazine, covering everything from the state's last great cattle drive to its tough oil towns. This image, however, would not be published until 1939. According to the magazine caption, this short-horned steer is being cut from the herd by two young cow ponies in an effort to develop their hooves and expert footing (Feb. 13, 1939).
- Mydans later recalled his frightened reaction after developing the picture; he said a photographer often concentrates so intently on what he is seeing that he is not aware of danger.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1937
- photographer
- Mydans, Carl
- ID Number
- 2005.0228.025
- accession number
- 2005.0228
- catalog number
- 2005.0228.025
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
A general store in the Big Bend country
- Description
- When Carl Mydans first started working for LIFE magazine, he was asked to go to Texas and document everything from its last great cattle drive to its tough oil towns. He stopped in the town of Terlingua, a community that had sprung up around some quicksilver mines and the water sources nearby. In the early 1900s, mine workers, and those that supported the mines by farming or by cutting timber for use in the mines and smelters, began to settle in the area. Once the mercury boom ceased, the population slowly dispersed and Terlingua essentially became a ghost town.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1937
- photographer
- Mydans, Carl
- ID Number
- 2005.0228.026
- accession number
- 2005.0228
- catalog number
- 2005.0228.026
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Carl Pugh, police chief of the oil boom town of Freer
- Description
- When Carl Mydans first started working for LIFE magazine, he was asked to go to Texas and document everything from its last great cattle drive to its tough oil towns. Part of Mydans' Texas photo essay was featured in LIFE (Jan 17, 1938). The caption there reads: A big felt hat, a cigar, a gold watch chain and cowboy boots identify Carl Pugh as Freer's chief of police.
- Freer's notoriety came from its being an oil boom town. Early in the 1900s, a small number of families purchased the land and watched it blossom into a community. However, when oil was struck, a flood of settlers overcrowded the area. Although the second oil boom (1932) brought a new age of prosperity to the town, it also attracted a colorful crowd of outcasts. Prior to Mydans' visit, the town constable would chain those who broke the law to telephone poles or to horse hitching posts overnight because Freer did not have a jail. By the time Mydans set foot in it, the town had a small police station along with a chief of police.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1937-03
- 1937
- photographer
- Mydans, Carl
- ID Number
- 2005.0228.029
- accession number
- 2005.0228
- catalog number
- 2005.0228.029
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Main Street in the oil boom town of Freer
- Description
- When Carl Mydans first started working for LIFE magazine, he was asked to go to Texas and document everything from the state's last great cattle drive to its tough oil towns. Some of his images of the oil boom town of Freer were later published in the magazine (Jan 17, 1938).
- The town of Freer received its name in 1925, when the government granted permission for a post office to be built there. The first settlers had arrived a decade earlier, after a Houston real-estate promoter named C. W. Hahl advertised his land for sale in newspapers throughout the Southwest. At first, only six families established themselves there. But by the mid-thirties, the population of Freer had reached about five to eight thousand inhabitants.
- The first oil boom occurred in 1928, but the Great Depression and the discovery of oil in East Texas in 1930 put an end to it. During the spring of 1932, a second, even bigger, boom occured. By 1933 Freer had become the second-largest oilfield in the United States and had attracted a flood of settlers from Oklahoma, Kansas, and other midwestern states. Despite a monthly payroll estimated at $500,000, Freer's main streets were not paved until 1938. It was common for the town to be covered in dust during months of drought, when it rained it was impossible for trucks carrying bread and milk from Alice and San Diego to travel through the mud and reach the town. During this period, the town also lacked potable water, a sewage system, and a bank.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1937
- photographer
- Mydans, Carl
- ID Number
- 2005.0228.030
- accession number
- 2005.0228
- catalog number
- 2005.0228.030
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Boy sitting on a bed in the oil boom town of Freer
- Description
- During one of his first assignments for LIFE magazine, Mydans was asked to capture images of life in Texas. His main focus was the oil boom town of Freer (Jan 17 1938).
- The town received its name in 1925, when the government granted permission to have a post office built. Six families had established homesteads there only a decade earlier. By the mid-thirties, the population of Freer was estimated to be somewhere between five and eight thousand.
- The first oil boom occurred in 1928, but the Great Depression and the discovery of oil in East Texas in 1930 put an end to it. During the spring of 1932, a second, even bigger, boom occurred. By 1933, Freer had become the second-largest oilfield in the United States and had attracted a flood of settlers from Oklahoma, Kansas, and other midwestern states. According to LIFE, most of the settlers were parasites, people who brought trouble, with them rather than productivity. This child, however, presents a contrast to this idea.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1937
- photographer
- Mydans, Carl
- ID Number
- 2005.0228.035
- accession number
- 2005.0228
- catalog number
- 2005.0228.035
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Daughter of migrant workers
- Description
- While traveling through Texas capturing images for his photo essay, Mydans focused not only on the free and prosperous cowboys on the range, but also on the displaced population that was still struggling to find a job amidst a national economic crisis. In the 1930s, a combination of droughts, the Depression, and the increased mechanization of farming prompted a migration of small farmers and laborers from Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas to the western United States.
- This girl's family probably traveled on its own, following the crops from one place to another, in order to make a living.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1937
- photographer
- Mydans, Carl
- ID Number
- 2005.0228.036
- accession number
- 2005.0228
- catalog number
- 2005.0228.036
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Migratory worker and family
- Description
- While traveling through Texas capturing images for his photo essay, Mydans focused not only on the prosperous cowboys on the range, but also on the displaced population that was still struggling to find jobs amidst a national economic crisis.
- Migrant workers like this man, whom Mydans found living with his family by the side of the road near Raymondville, Texas, were called "brush-hogs." It was estimated that this type of permanent migrant worker, without a home, voting privileges, or union representation, numbered more than 3 million during the 1930s. These laborers traveled from place to place, harvesting crops that needed to be picked as soon as they ripened, hoping to earn enough money to get by.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1937
- photographer
- Mydans, Carl
- ID Number
- 2005.0228.038
- accession number
- 2005.0228
- catalog number
- 2005.0228.038
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Lucius Washington and two mules plow the fields before the Dallas skyline
- Description
- In 1938 photographer Carl Mydans set off on his travels around the United States once more, making stops in Alabama, Maryland, Virginia, and Texas. He captured images of farmers and cowboys, as well as passersby on sidewalks and women in department stores shopping for the latest fashions. This time, he was on assignment for LIFE magazine, instead of the Resettlement Administration.
- In this photograph, Mydans accentuates the sharp contrast between the rural and urban lifestyles during the late 1930s in Dallas, Texas. In the background, high-rise buildings, billboard advertisements, and factories remind the viewer of progressive industrialization and how mechanized labor was replacing manual labor. Workers and farmers, such as Lucius Washington, faced hard times during this decade.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1939
- photographer
- Mydans, Carl
- ID Number
- 2005.0228.047
- accession number
- 2005.0228
- catalog number
- 2005.0228.047
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Bracero Standing for Photographs
- Description
- Photograph: A bracero stands for identification photographs at the Hidalgo Processing Center, Texas, while others wait in line.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date photographed
- 1956
- photographer
- Nadel, Leonard
- ID Number
- 2004.0138.02.01
- accession number
- 2004.0138
- catalog number
- 2004.0138.02.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Braceros Receiving Identification Photographs
- Description
- Photograph: Braceros receive their identification photographs at the Hidalgo Processing Center, Texas, while others wait in line.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date photographed
- 1956
- photographer
- Nadel, Leonard
- ID Number
- 2004.0138.02.02
- accession number
- 2004.0138
- catalog number
- 2004.0138.02.02
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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