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.

Date: 1900s

West Shore, Lake Bomoseen, VT

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
postmark date
1911-7-4
ID Number
1986.3048.0686
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.0686

family portrait on house porch

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.1784
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.1784

group of umbrellas near body of water

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
before 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.1403
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.1403

Glenburnie Club and Golf Links

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1901-1907
ID Number
PG.72.104.1
catalog number
72.104.1
accession number
306577

sailing the ocean blue

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
1906
maker
Eickemeyer, Jr., Rudolf
ID Number
PG.004135.B011.47
catalog number
4135.B11.47
accession number
128483

portrait of three men

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.1154
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.1154

Leaves Green

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.1828
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.1828

Floral Grove Hotel

Glass plate negative made by Walter J. Hussey, circa 1900.
Description
Glass plate negative made by Walter J. Hussey, circa 1900. The Floral Grove Hotel in Florida with guests and horse-drawn carriages in front of the two-story structure.
The collection in the Photographic History Collection consists of over two hundred glass plate negatives made by Walter J. Hussey (1865-1959). These glass plate negatives consist of daily life in and around Mount Pleasant, Ohio, Mr. Hussey's friends and family, studio portraits, his trips to the Washington, D.C. area, and Florida.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1900
maker
Hussey, Walter J.
ID Number
2011.0090.36
accession number
2011.0090
catalog number
2011.0090.36

If I could Put My Words Into Song

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
1909
maker
Eickemeyer, Jr., Rudolf
ID Number
PG.003920.A21
catalog number
3920.A21
accession number
106456

The St. Lawrence River from Ebullement

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
1906
maker
Eickemeyer, Jr., Rudolf
ID Number
PG.004135.B013.26
catalog number
4135.B13.26
accession number
128483

Photo copy of sensitive paper exposed under various kinds of glass

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
19th Century
maker
Whipple, John Adams
Gaffield, Thomas
ID Number
PG.000302
accession number
25382
catalog number
302

portrait of two women in feathered hats

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.1103
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.1103

two women and an elderly man

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
before 1907
date taken
1906/9/10
ID Number
1986.3048.1156
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.1156

woman in dark dress

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.1692
catalog number
1986.3048.1692
nonaccession number
1986.3048

Large house with screened-in porch

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1907
ID Number
2017.0219.0043
accession number
2017.0219
catalog number
2017.0219.0043

A Foggy Morning in Yarmouth

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
1909
maker
Eickemeyer, Jr., Rudolf
ID Number
PG.004135.B010.19
catalog number
4135.B10.19
accession number
128483

woman in living room

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.1329
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.1329

tall tree at the water's edge

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
1909
maker
Eickemeyer, Jr., Rudolf
ID Number
PG.004135.B010.64
catalog number
4135.B10.64
accession number
128483

Expo Watch Camera

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1906
ID Number
PG.70.021
catalog number
1993.3020.01
nonaccession number
1993.3020
catalog number
70.021

P.R.R. Station, Springdale, Pa.

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
postmark date
1909/3/25
ID Number
1986.3048.1829
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.1829

Miss M. of Washington

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1901
maker
Clark, Rose
Wade, Elizabeth Flint
Wade, Elizabeth Flint
ID Number
PG.004668.17
catalog number
4668.17
accession number
187180

The Harbor Entrance at Halifax

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
1909
maker
Eickemeyer, Jr., Rudolf
ID Number
PG.004135.B010.70
catalog number
4135.B10.70
accession number
128483

dirt country road

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.1477
catalog number
1986.3048.1477
nonaccession number
1986.3048

The House of David Park

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1906
Associated Date
1946-08-28
ID Number
2018.0166.0039
accession number
2018.0166
catalog number
2018.0166.0039

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.