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.

Place: New York

photograph

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
2001-09
maker
Rogers, Jane
ID Number
2011.0177.31
catalog number
2011.0177.31
accession number
2011.0177

Lynn Fontanne in "At Mrs. Beam's"

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1926
maker
Muray, Nickolas
ID Number
2013.0327.1565
catalog number
2013.0327.1565
accession number
2013.0327

Newsstand, 32nd St. and 3rd Ave.

Unmounted silver print by Berenice Abbott, "Newsstand, 32nd St. and 3rd Ave." Magazine stand with predominantly women's magazines.
Description (Brief)
Unmounted silver print by Berenice Abbott, "Newsstand, 32nd St. and 3rd Ave." Magazine stand with predominantly women's magazines. Coca cola ad top right in which woman in white swimsuit is holding a cola bottle; large sign in top left/center advertising cigars, smaller signs for ice-cream, milk and soda top left. Candy bars at bottom right beneath cash register. Verso: Stamp, "Photograph, Berenice Abbott, Maine 04406;" Recto: signed by the artist.
Description
During the 1920s, Berenice Abbott was one of the premier portrait photographers of Paris, her only competitor was the equally well-known Dada Surrealist Man Ray who had served as her mentor and employer before she launched her own career. An American expatriate, Abbott enjoyed the company of some of the great twentieth century writers and artists, photographing individuals such as Jean Cocteau, Peggy Guggenheim and James Joyce. One of the critical elements of Abbott’s portraiture was a desire to neither enhance nor interfere with the sitter. She instead wished to allow the personality of her subject to dictate the form of the photograph, and would often sit with her clients for several hours before she even began to photograph them. This straight-forward approach to photography characterized Abbott’s work for the duration of her career.
Thematically and technically, Abbott’s work can be most closely linked to documentary photographer Eugène Atget (COLL.PHOTOS.000016), who photographed Paris during the early 1900s. Abbott bought a number of his prints the first time she saw them, and even asked him to set some aside that she planned to purchase when she had enough money. After his death in 1927, Abbott took it upon herself to publicize Atget’s work to garner the recognition it deserved. It was partly for this reason she returned to the United States in 1928, hoping to find an American publisher to produce an English-language survey of Atget’s work. Amazed upon her arrival to see the changes New York had undergone during her stay in Paris, and eager to photograph the emerging new metropolis, Abbott decided to pack up her lucrative Parisian portrait business and move back to New York.
The status and prestige she enjoyed in Paris, however, did not carry over to New York. Abbott did not fit in easily with her contemporaries. She was both a woman in a male-dominated field and a documentary photographer in the midst of an American photographic world firmly rooted in Pictorialism. Abbott recalls disliking the work of both photographer Alfred Stieglitz and his then protégé Paul Strand when she first visited their exhibitions in New York. Stieglitz, along with contemporaries such as Ansel Adams and Edward Steichen, tended to romanticize the American landscape and effectively dismissed Abbott’s straight photography as she saw it. Not only was Atget’s work rejected by the Pictorialists, but a series of critical comments she made towards Stieglitz and Pictorialism cost Abbott her professional career as a photographer. Afterwards, she was unable to secure space at galleries, have her work shown at museums or continue the working relationships she had forged with a number of magazine publications.
In 1935, the Federal Art Project outfitted Abbott with equipment and a staff to complete her project to photograph New York City. The benefit of a personal staff and the freedom to determine her own subject matter was unique among federally funded artists working at that time. The resulting series of photographs, which she titled Changing New York, represent some of Abbott’s best-known work. Her photographs of New York remain one of the most important twentieth century pictorial records of New York City. Abbott went on to produce a series of photographs for varied topics, including scientific textbooks and American suburbs. When the equipment was insufficient to meet her photographic needs, as in the case of her series of science photographs, she invented the tools she needed to achieve the desired effect. In the course of doing so, Abbott patented a number of useful photographic aids throughout her career including an 8x10 patent camera (patent #2869556) and a photographer’s jacket. Abbott also spent twenty years teaching photography classes at the New School for Social Research alongside such greats as composer Aaron Copland and writer W.E.B. DuBois.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Abbott’s career was the printing of Eugène Atget’s photographs, one of the few instances in which one well-known photographer printed a large number of negatives made by another well-known photographer. The struggle to get Atget’s photographs the recognition they deserved was similar to Abbott’s efforts to chart her own path by bringing documentary photography to the fore in a Pictorialist dominated America. Though she experienced varying levels of rejection and trials in both efforts, her perseverance placed her in the position she now holds as one of the great photographers of the twentieth century.
The Bernice Abbott collection consists of sixteen silver prints. The photographs represent a range of work Abbott produced during her lifetime, including her early portraiture work in Paris, her Changing New York series, Physics and Route 1, U.S.A. series.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1935-11-19
maker
Abbott, Berenice
ID Number
PG.69.216.07
accession number
288852
catalog number
69.216.07

Stuyvesant Town Roof Patterns

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Falk, Sam
ID Number
PG.69.99.006
accession number
281224
catalog number
69.99.006

At the Stock Exchange

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Falk, Sam
ID Number
PG.69.99.071
accession number
281224
catalog number
69.99.71

Original Kodak Camera, Serial No. 540

This Original Kodak camera, introduced by George Eastman, placed the power of photography in the hands of anyone who could press a button.
Description
This Original Kodak camera, introduced by George Eastman, placed the power of photography in the hands of anyone who could press a button. Unlike earlier cameras that used a glass-plate negative for each exposure, the Kodak came preloaded with a 100-exposure roll of flexible film. After finishing the roll, the consumer mailed the camera back to the factory to have the prints made. In capturing everyday moments and memories, the Kodak's distinctive circular snapshots defined a new style of photography--informal, personal, and fun.
George Eastman invented flexible roll film and in 1888 introduced the Kodak camera shown to use this film. It took 100-exposure rolls of film that gave circular images 2 5/8" in diameter. In 1888 the original Kodak sold for $25 loaded with a roll of film and included a leather carrying case.
The Original Kodak was fitted with a rotating barrel shutter unique to this model. The shutter was set by pulling up a string on top of the camera and operated by pushing a button on the side of the camera. After taking a photograph, a key on top of the camera was used to wind the film onto the next frame. There is no viewfinder on the camera; instead two V shaped lines on the top of the camera leather are intended to aid aiming the camera at the subject. The barrel shutter proved to be expensive to manufacture and unreliable in operation. The following year the shutter was replaced by a simpler sector shutter in the No 1 Kodak.
After 100 pictures had been taken on the film strip, the camera could be returned to the Kodak factory for developing and printing at a cost of $10. The camera, loaded with a fresh roll of film was returned with the negatives and mounted prints. Kodak advertisements from 1888 also state that any amateur could "finish his own pictures" and spare rolls of film were sold for $2.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1888
maker
Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company
ID Number
PG.000169
catalog number
169
accession number
23598

Cherry St.

Unmounted silver print by Berenice Abbott, "Cherry St." Street with three buildings, lamppost bottom right, man seated on steps of far left building.
Description (Brief)
Unmounted silver print by Berenice Abbott, "Cherry St." Street with three buildings, lamppost bottom right, man seated on steps of far left building. Two women in light-colored clothing seated on step of center building, third woman wearing dark colors seated on folding chair; two young girls standing on top step in front of same building, both wearing light-colored clothing. Debris in road. Sign on building reads, "basement to let, Hallock 400 Grand at NY." Verso: Stamped two times with "Photograph, Berenice Abbott, Maine 04406," both on top of older stamp that reads, "Photograph by Berenice Abbott, Commerce St, New York 14, NY." Verso also includes pricing chart that was written in pencil and then erased, reading: "11x14 $60; 14x17 $65; 16x20 $70; [illegible size] $100; 24x30 $175; [illegible size] $175; 40x60 [illegible price]. Recto: signed by Abbott.
Description
During the 1920s, Berenice Abbott was one of the premier portrait photographers of Paris, her only competitor was the equally well-known Dada Surrealist Man Ray who had served as her mentor and employer before she launched her own career. An American expatriate, Abbott enjoyed the company of some of the great twentieth century writers and artists, photographing individuals such as Jean Cocteau, Peggy Guggenheim and James Joyce. One of the critical elements of Abbott’s portraiture was a desire to neither enhance nor interfere with the sitter. She instead wished to allow the personality of her subject to dictate the form of the photograph, and would often sit with her clients for several hours before she even began to photograph them. This straight-forward approach to photography characterized Abbott’s work for the duration of her career.
Thematically and technically, Abbott’s work can be most closely linked to documentary photographer Eugène Atget (COLL.PHOTOS.000016), who photographed Paris during the early 1900s. Abbott bought a number of his prints the first time she saw them, and even asked him to set some aside that she planned to purchase when she had enough money. After his death in 1927, Abbott took it upon herself to publicize Atget’s work to garner the recognition it deserved. It was partly for this reason she returned to the United States in 1928, hoping to find an American publisher to produce an English-language survey of Atget’s work. Amazed upon her arrival to see the changes New York had undergone during her stay in Paris, and eager to photograph the emerging new metropolis, Abbott decided to pack up her lucrative Parisian portrait business and move back to New York.
The status and prestige she enjoyed in Paris, however, did not carry over to New York. Abbott did not fit in easily with her contemporaries. She was both a woman in a male-dominated field and a documentary photographer in the midst of an American photographic world firmly rooted in Pictorialism. Abbott recalls disliking the work of both photographer Alfred Stieglitz and his then protégé Paul Strand when she first visited their exhibitions in New York. Stieglitz, along with contemporaries such as Ansel Adams and Edward Steichen, tended to romanticize the American landscape and effectively dismissed Abbott’s straight photography as she saw it. Not only was Atget’s work rejected by the Pictorialists, but a series of critical comments she made towards Stieglitz and Pictorialism cost Abbott her professional career as a photographer. Afterwards, she was unable to secure space at galleries, have her work shown at museums or continue the working relationships she had forged with a number of magazine publications.
In 1935, the Federal Art Project outfitted Abbott with equipment and a staff to complete her project to photograph New York City. The benefit of a personal staff and the freedom to determine her own subject matter was unique among federally funded artists working at that time. The resulting series of photographs, which she titled Changing New York, represent some of Abbott’s best-known work. Her photographs of New York remain one of the most important twentieth century pictorial records of New York City. Abbott went on to produce a series of photographs for varied topics, including scientific textbooks and American suburbs. When the equipment was insufficient to meet her photographic needs, as in the case of her series of science photographs, she invented the tools she needed to achieve the desired effect. In the course of doing so, Abbott patented a number of useful photographic aids throughout her career including an 8x10 patent camera (patent #2869556) and a photographer’s jacket. Abbott also spent twenty years teaching photography classes at the New School for Social Research alongside such greats as composer Aaron Copland and writer W.E.B. DuBois.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Abbott’s career was the printing of Eugène Atget’s photographs, one of the few instances in which one well-known photographer printed a large number of negatives made by another well-known photographer. The struggle to get Atget’s photographs the recognition they deserved was similar to Abbott’s efforts to chart her own path by bringing documentary photography to the fore in a Pictorialist dominated America. Though she experienced varying levels of rejection and trials in both efforts, her perseverance placed her in the position she now holds as one of the great photographers of the twentieth century.
The Bernice Abbott collection consists of sixteen silver prints. The photographs represent a range of work Abbott produced during her lifetime, including her early portraiture work in Paris, her Changing New York series, Physics and Route 1, U.S.A. series.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1931
maker
Abbott, Berenice
ID Number
PG.69.216.09
accession number
288852
catalog number
69.216.09

A Bacchante

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1913
maker
Keiley, Joseph
ID Number
PG.001697
catalog number
1697
accession number
55701

During facelift surgery

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1970-1980s
maker
Baughman, J. Ross
ID Number
2010.0231.01.098
catalog number
2010.0231.01.098
accession number
2010.0231

Lieutenant Colonel Francis Edwin Pierce

Lieutenant Colonel Francis Edwin Pierce, carte-de-visite, by R.B. Appleby, Rochester, New York, c. 1860sFrancis Edwin Pierce was born to Abijah and Miranda Pierce on July 6, 1833.
Description
Lieutenant Colonel Francis Edwin Pierce, carte-de-visite, by R.B. Appleby, Rochester, New York, c. 1860s
Francis Edwin Pierce was born to Abijah and Miranda Pierce on July 6, 1833. He spent his formative years in Fowlerville, Livingston County, New York, until he moved with his parents to Wisconsin in 1845. Pierce lived there for just a few years before returning to New York to live with his grandparents.
Sent to Rochester, New York, for a better education, Francis Pierce excelled academically and graduated from Rochester University with high honors in 1859. During that time, he also taught. After graduation, he was made the principal of Mt. Morris Academy in Mount Morris, Livingston County, New York. In 1860 Pierce established the Rochester Military Training School with his cousin, Col. Samuel C. Pierce.
Francis Pierce was at the new school until July 1862, when he began to raise Company F of the 108th New York Volunteers. By November, he became the major of the regiment. In March 1863, he rose to lieutenant colonel. During the Battle of Morton’s Ford, fought on February 6 and 7, 1864, in Virginia, he was wounded in the left eye, and the injury cost him, his sight in that eye. He was further injured during the May 5-7, 1864 Battle of the Wilderness, in Virginia, where he was shot through one of his hands, but continued in the field. While in command of his regiment, he and his men captured 3,000 Confederate men and officers, including Gen. Joe Johnston. Francis Pierce was mustered out of service in 1865.
Records show that during the Battle of Gettysburg, Col. Thomas A. Smyth (cat. #3955W) was injured and Francis Pierce was temporarily put in command, for which he was highly praised: In Smyth’s report, the colonel wrote, “I desire to call the attention of the general commanding to the bravery, self possession, and energy of Lieutenant-Colonel Francis E. Pierce, commanding the One Hundred and Eighth New York Volunteers who throughout the heaviest of the fire showed the greatest unconcern, passing along his line and encouraging his men.”
Following the war Francis Pierce was appointed colonel of the 1st United States Volunteers, a regiment of discharged veterans. After accepting the position of second lieutenant, it was evident that the military would become his career. During the winter months of 1865, Colonel Pierce received from Congress the honorary title of brevet brigadier general of volunteers. Throughout the remaining years of Pierce’s life, he held many positions in various military organizations.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1861-1865
depicted (sitter)
Pierce, Francis E.
maker
Appleby, R. B.
ID Number
PG.003955DD
accession number
117896
catalog number
3955DD

Framed Photograph of Brazilian Walnut Logs

This photograph of Brazilian walnut wood is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C.
Description (Brief)
This photograph of Brazilian walnut wood is one of forty-nine framed black and white photographic prints bequeathed to the Smithsonian by William F. Bucher of Washington, D.C. Bucher, a cabinetmaker, framed each photograph in wood of the same species as the tree depicted in the print. The photos were displayed in a special exhibition, Our Trees and their Woods at the United States National Museum in 1931.
The logs shown in this photograph were located in New York, New York. The Bureau of American Republics gave the image in the frame to William Bucher. The frame is made of Brazilian Walnut (Imbuya) veneer on spruce, and the back band is made of ebony.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1915
frame maker
Bucher, William F.
photographer
Pan American Union
ID Number
AG.115767.44
catalog number
AG*115767.44
accession number
115767
maker number
49

Eva Le Gallienne

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
n.d.
maker
Muray, Nickolas
ID Number
2013.0327.1568
catalog number
2013.0327.1568
accession number
2013.0327

Sign at Liberty Landing Marina covered in snapshots of the Twin Towers

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
2002-01
maker
Occi, James L.
ID Number
2003.0073.11
accession number
2003.0073
catalog number
2003.0073.11

Evening

Evening by anonymous, 1937, gelatin silver print.Currently not on view
Description
Evening by anonymous, 1937, gelatin silver print.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1937
Associated Name
Manship, Paul M.
maker
Anonymous
ID Number
2013.0327.0262
catalog number
2013.0327.0262
accession number
2013.0327

World Trade Center Towers Burning

Color photograph by Ronald Pordy of the World Trade Center Towers burning.Currently not on view
Description
Color photograph by Ronald Pordy of the World Trade Center Towers burning.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
2001-09-11
maker
Pordy, Ronald
ID Number
2003.0326.03
accession number
2003.0326
catalog number
2003.0326.03

Three Firemen in Full Dress

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1902
ID Number
2015.0074.0089
accession number
2015.0074
catalog number
2015.0074.0089

Transvestite with a torn stocking, N.Y.C., 1966

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1966
maker
Arbus, Diane
ID Number
PG.69.149.5
accession number
298691
catalog number
69.149.5

Florence Johns

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1920s
maker
Muray, Nickolas
ID Number
2013.0327.1541
catalog number
2013.0327.1541
accession number
2013.0327

Newburgh Ferry House Cornice Detail

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
maker
Plowden, David
ID Number
1986.0711.0719
accession number
1986.0711
catalog number
1986.0711.0719

Kennedy International Airport across to La Guardia Airport

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1957
ID Number
2019.0110.0018
accession number
2019.0110
catalog number
2019.0110.0018

photograph

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
2001-09
maker
Rogers, Jane
ID Number
2011.0177.42
catalog number
2011.0177.42
accession number
2011.0177

Memorial for a woman

Date made
2001-09-22
maker
Potoksky, Douglas
ID Number
2002.0100.04
accession number
2002.0100
catalog number
2002.0100.04

Vulcan and Man

Vulcan and Man by anonymous, 1937, gelatin silver print.Currently not on view
Description
Vulcan and Man by anonymous, 1937, gelatin silver print.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1937
maker
Anonymous
ID Number
2013.0327.0273
catalog number
2013.0327.0273
accession number
2013.0327

photograph

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
2001-09
maker
Rogers, Jane
ID Number
2011.0177.46
catalog number
2011.0177.46
accession number
2011.0177

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