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: United States

portrait of woman in dark dress

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.1305
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.1305

broken branch pathway through the woods

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
1900-1910
maker
Eickemeyer, Jr., Rudolf
ID Number
PG.004135.B020.012
catalog number
4135.B20.12
accession number
128483

Animal Locomotion: Series 1429, Plate 21

maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0779
catalog number
3856.0779
accession number
98473

Civilian Defense

Mounted gelatin silver print of Edward Weston's Civilian Defense, 1942. The photograph was printed by Edward's son Cole Weston from his father's original negative.Edward Weston was influential in the modern photography movement beginning in the 1930s.
Description (Brief)
Mounted gelatin silver print of Edward Weston's Civilian Defense, 1942. The photograph was printed by Edward's son Cole Weston from his father's original negative.
Edward Weston was influential in the modern photography movement beginning in the 1930s. He is well known for photographing the natural surroundings of his home on the California coast. Weston created striking works of art, some abstract, some more traditional images. A leader in American photography of the 20th century, Weston's prints were first exhibited at the Smithsonian in 1947. Afterwards, he remained interested in the national photography collection. At times, Weston recommended photographers to curators for collecting opportunities, and eventually donated a selection of his work and several cameras to the Photographic History Collection.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1942
maker - negative
Weston, Edward
maker - print
Weston, Cole
ID Number
PG.69.137.11
catalog number
69.137.11
accession number
288850

Courtesying sic

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885-09-19
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0157
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0157
maker number
1374

Animal Locomotion: Series 835, Plate 16

maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0776
catalog number
3856.0776
accession number
98473

New Buffalo Commune, Arroyo Hondo, NM. 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
1998.0139.089
catalog number
1998.0139.089
accession number
1998.0139

Auction

black and white stereograph mounted on buff colored cardstock; photograph by J. Freeman; handwritten on verso "Auction"; printed on recto "J.
Description (Brief)
black and white stereograph mounted on buff colored cardstock; photograph by J. Freeman; handwritten on verso "Auction"; printed on recto "J. Freeman, / Nantucket."; variety of goods gathered on street outside a two level building; muliple double wheeled wagons in front; at least three carriages, one horse drawn; three men gathered in group at left; single man standing on raised platform at center of building
date made
mid-late 1800s
ID Number
2012.3033.0546
nonaccession number
2012.3033
catalog number
2012.3033.0546

Worker in a Field, Massachusetts, 1911

A Lewis Hine silver print circa 1908. This image is one in a series of photographs made for The National Child Labor Committee. The image is of a very small child in a field. The child is wearing a brimmed hat and carrying two buckets of fruit.
Description (Brief)
A Lewis Hine silver print circa 1908. This image is one in a series of photographs made for The National Child Labor Committee. The image is of a very small child in a field. The child is wearing a brimmed hat and carrying two buckets of fruit. Other workers can be seen in the blurred background.
Description
Lewis Hine was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin to a working class family. He was orphaned at the age of fifteen and forced into the workforce. While supporting himself, Hine managed to continue his education. After high school graduation he worked a few odd jobs and then in 1900 eventually enrolled at The University of Chicago. At the University Hine studied Sociology. While taking classes, Hine came to know Frank Manny a professor at the State Normal School. Manny had recently received a job offer to be the superintendent of the Ethical Culture School in New York City. Hine decided to join his new friend and in 1901 moved to New York to teach at Manny's school. Hine continued to pursue his degree in Sociology at New York University. It was during this period that Hine began to use a camera. At first, his interest in photography was simply as a means to educate students and to document school events. However, Hine was quick to take an interest in photography and ultimately this new medium would become the means through which he could express his growing social concerns, especially about child welfare.
In 1904, Hine began his first photo essay. In an attempt to counter growing anti-immigration sentiment amongst New Yorkers, and Americans in general, Hine began a project to photograph immigrant families arriving at Ellis Island. Instead of making them appear pathetic or even animalistic, as other photographers were doing, Hine photographed these people with a humanitarian eye. He depicted them as brave, dignified pioneers of a new land. Hine's camera was a 5x7-plate box-type on a tripod. Often he had to work in low light. If he was indoors, Hine usually had only one chance to photograph an image because after he used a magnesium flash powder to create artificial light the room would fill with smoke, obstructing the image.
In 1905, Hine received his degree from NYU and began considering a career in Sociological Photography. By 1908, he had left his teaching job for a full time position as an investigative photographer for The National Child Labor Committee (NCLC). His first commission from the NCLC was to photograph home workers, children and adults, in New York City tenements. Hine was horrified with what he saw, he described the conditions as "One of the most iniquitous phases of child slavery." Later that year Hine, on commission from the NCLC, left New York to photograph child laborers all over the United States. In 1909 Hine published his first photo essay on children at risk. The essay was comprised of material from the first years of his tour of the United States.
Throughout his career many more photo essays would follow, alerting the public to the plight of these American children who were obviously in such grave danger in their working environments.
Hine's work also took him to Europe in 1917. Funded by the Red Cross he photographed European refugees of World War I. In the 1920's, Hine returned to America and to Ellis Island to once again photograph newly arrived immigrants. Although Hine was a pioneer in 'Sociological Photography' and he had vastly increased public awareness about child labor, he still struggled to make a living.
In 1930, ten years before his death, Hine received the honor of photographing the construction of the Empire State Building. For a change, Hine focused on the joyful and productive side of labor instead of the dark side. Lewis Hine died in 1940. As a photographer, Hine left a resounding impact on the worlds of journalism and art, pioneering a new form of storytelling that today we call photojournalism.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1908
date made
ca. 1908-1911
maker
Hine, Lewis
ID Number
PG.72.78.17
catalog number
72.78.17
accession number
302041

Child…

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885-06-06
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0584.03
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0584.3
maker number
[552]

Walking, carrying bucket of water in each hand

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0024
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0024
maker number
1359

Animal Locomotion: Series 1284, Plate 633

maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.1153
catalog number
3856.1153
accession number
98473

man in jewelry shop, rush, texas

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
after 1907
ID Number
1986.3048.0962
nonaccession number
1986.3048
catalog number
1986.3048.0962

Animal Locomotion: Series 1386, Plate 404

maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.1035
catalog number
3856.1035
accession number
98473

Animal Locomotion: Series 953, Plate 427

maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.1051
catalog number
3856.1051
accession number
98473

Jumping; running twist high jump, shoes

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885-07-06
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0129
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0129
maker number
1081

Cat galloping

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0533
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0533
maker number
1175

No. 68 Engine Room, Mechanics Mill.

black and white stereograph mounted on yellow cardstock; printed on verso "Photographed and Published by / Kilburn Brothers, ---- Littleton, N.H."; printed on recto "No. 68 Engine Room, Mechanics Mill."; large engines inside interior of factoryCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
black and white stereograph mounted on yellow cardstock; printed on verso "Photographed and Published by / Kilburn Brothers, ---- Littleton, N.H."; printed on recto "No. 68 Engine Room, Mechanics Mill."; large engines inside interior of factory
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1865-1900s
maker
Kilburn Brothers
ID Number
2012.3033.0280
nonaccession number
2012.3033
catalog number
2012.3033.0280

Willard Morgan with Model A Leica- (Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1928
maker
Morgan, Barbara
ID Number
PG.69.217.12
accession number
288025
catalog number
69.217.12

EmmyLou Harris

Working on assignment, Henry Horenstein photographed EmmyLou Harris (b. 1947) at her home. In the 1970s, Harris represented the generation of musicians who were influenced by traditional country, rock, and folk music.
Description
Working on assignment, Henry Horenstein photographed EmmyLou Harris (b. 1947) at her home. In the 1970s, Harris represented the generation of musicians who were influenced by traditional country, rock, and folk music. Over the years, Harris has had a profound impact on contemporary popular and country music.
Location
Currently not on view
negative
1980
print
2003
maker
Horenstein, Henry
ID Number
2003.0169.034
accession number
2003.0169
catalog number
2003.0169.034

Jumping on and off a cantering horse

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0708
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0708
maker number
1296

Stooping and lifting broom

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0174
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0174
maker number
1340

Animal Locomotion: Series 855, Plate 256

maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0933
catalog number
3856.0933
accession number
98473

Animal Locomotion: Series 867, Plate 303

maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0963
catalog number
3856.0963
accession number
98473

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.