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: 1940s

General Douglas MacArthur lands in the Philippines at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon, January 9, 1945

After covering the Italian and French campaigns of 1944, Mydans was sent back to the Pacific that November. Although he photographed some of the Leyte campaign, he missed General MacArthur's famous return to the Philippines.
Description
After covering the Italian and French campaigns of 1944, Mydans was sent back to the Pacific that November. Although he photographed some of the Leyte campaign, he missed General MacArthur's famous return to the Philippines. On January 9, 1945, Mydans photographed MacArthur as he landed in Luzon. According to Mydans, MacArthur did not believe in posed pictures: No one I have ever known in public life had a better understanding of the drama and power of a picture.
When the time came, Mydans jumped out of the boat unto the pontoon walkway set up for MacArthur's arrival only to see the craft reverse its engines and back away. Mydans quickly ran across the beach and waited for the boat to come to him. Once the ramp dropped, he photographed MacArthur knee-deep in the water as he waded ashore, thus creating one of his most memorable shots. The image was taken just five hours after the first wave assault on the beach. Mydans was the only still photographer to accompany General MacArthur on the U.S.S. Boise, his command ship, during the invasion of Luzon. Many years after that landing, Mydans shared an intimate moment with MacArthur upon their return to Luzon. After standing on Lingayen Beach in front of a plaque commemorating the event, MacArthur walked over to Mydans and said, "This is the highlight of it all, isn't it? For you and me." (LIFE, July 14, 1961).
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1945-01-09
1945
photographer
Mydans, Carl
ID Number
2005.0228.069
accession number
2005.0228
catalog number
2005.0228.069

Mamoru Shigemitsu and General Yoshijiro Umezu ready to sign the surrender papers on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri

To sign the surrender that would officially end World War II, a small delegation of Japanese diplomats and military personnel appeared promptly at 8:55 a.m. on Sunday, September 2, 1945. Their faces expressionless, Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Gen.
Description
To sign the surrender that would officially end World War II, a small delegation of Japanese diplomats and military personnel appeared promptly at 8:55 a.m. on Sunday, September 2, 1945. Their faces expressionless, Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu stood side by side.
Shigemitsu leaned heavily on his cane in order to support the artificial leg, the result of a bomb that had been thrown at him years before in Shanghai. Shigemitsu awkwardly sat down and took off his hat and a glove before signing his name and signing for Emperor Hirohito.
General Umezu followed, but unlike the rest, he signed standing up. With their signatures, both men bound Japan to accept the Potsdam Declaration: to surrender all forces unconditionally, free all military prisoners, and make all Japanese officials, including the Emperor, subservient to General MacArthur.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1945
photographer
Mydans, Carl
ID Number
2005.0228.085
accession number
2005.0228
catalog number
2005.0228.085

Fall Festival Celebrations - adorning a cow

Press print; man and woman adorning a cow with crown of flowers and leaves; probably Germany; agricultural festivalCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
Press print; man and woman adorning a cow with crown of flowers and leaves; probably Germany; agricultural festival
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1930s-1940s
ID Number
2013.0327.0589
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.0589

Winter Storm, Yosemite Valley

Silver gelatin, mounted. View of mountains and sky. Sky is cloudy and there is low fog around the mountains. Tall peak, right, lower peaks in the distance. Bushes and trees in foreground. Signed ink, (recto: bottom right corner).
Description (Brief)
Silver gelatin, mounted. View of mountains and sky. Sky is cloudy and there is low fog around the mountains. Tall peak, right, lower peaks in the distance. Bushes and trees in foreground. Signed ink, (recto: bottom right corner). Verso: Adams stamp, handwritten title, ink, top center. "RSN 82532R32" handwritten, pencil, bottom right.
Description
Adams took many photographs over the years at this spot, New Inspiration Point, in Yosemite National Park. Though he loved the sweeping vista afforded by the point, precarious cliffs, thick lines of trees and rock formations dictated the camera’s exact position. On this early December day, a clearing storm resulted in a dynamic and powerful image. “Weather, however spectacular to the eye, may present difficult conditions and compositions,” Adams wrote, and it is especially true in his case, as it took several minutes to set up his 8x10 camera assembly in 1940 (“Examples,” p.103). This photograph is one of many by Adams that has been called an environmental statement, but the photographer wrote that, as with all his work, his emotional and aesthetic response took preeminence over any deliberate assertion of “meaning” (“Examples,” p.106).
Ansel Adams (1902-1984) is one of the most well-known twentieth century photographers. His contributions to the field of photography include his innovation and teaching of the Zone System. The quality of his photographs set the standard by which many straight photographs are judged.
The collection in the Photographic History Collection consists of twenty-five photographs, all printed in or about 1968. All are gelatin silver, mounted, labeled and signed in ink by the photographer. The photographs include some of his most well-known images, but also portraits and objects. The selection of images was made in collaboration between the collecting curator and Adams.
print made
ca 1968
negative made
ca 1941
maker
Adams, Ansel
ID Number
PG.69.117.02
accession number
282326
catalog number
69.117.2

Jacob Heymann's Butcher Shop Window

Unmounted silver print by Berenice Abbott, "Jacob Heymann's Butcher Shop Window." Storefront is covered with signs advertising different kinds of meat including turkey, geese, lamb and duck. Sample prices range from 20 cents/lb for "fancy geese" to 22 cents/lb for a leg of lamb.
Description
Unmounted silver print by Berenice Abbott, "Jacob Heymann's Butcher Shop Window." Storefront is covered with signs advertising different kinds of meat including turkey, geese, lamb and duck. Sample prices range from 20 cents/lb for "fancy geese" to 22 cents/lb for a leg of lamb. Even the door in right of photograph has writing on it, as well as a sign, so that there is very little space on the front of the building that is not used for advertising. There is also a hanging light in the top right corner. Awning in top of photograph reads "Specials Daily - Meats - Jacob Hymann - Poultry," with the street number "345" on wooden sign in top right. Grate in sidewalk to left of door. Sidewalk only visible right bottom. Verso: Stamp, "Photograph, Berenice Abbott, Maine 04406; " Recto: signed by the artist.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1930-1940
maker
Abbott, Berenice
ID Number
PG.69.216.13
accession number
288852
catalog number
69.216.13

Unknown Actress

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1942
copyright holder
RKO
ID Number
2013.0327.1532
catalog number
2013.0327.1532
accession number
2013.0327

Album of Ben Polisky (abroad)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1945
ID Number
2007.3033.02
nonaccession number
2007.3033
catalog number
2007.3033.02

Album of Ben Polisky (family and friends)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1944-45
ID Number
2007.3033.03
nonaccession number
2007.3033
catalog number
2007.3033.03

Samadhi (Light Drawing)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1940
maker
Morgan, Barbara
ID Number
PG.69.217.18
accession number
288025
catalog number
69.217.18

No. 69 Rear view of a trapdoor spider

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1948
maker
Feininger, Andreas
ID Number
1990.0160.014
accession number
1990.0160
catalog number
1990.0160.014

Italy (A), 1946-1948, Boy and Girl with Books

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1946-1948
maker
Avedon, Richard
ID Number
PG.66.64.085A
accession number
264003
catalog number
66.64

Fort Stewart Activities

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1940s
maker
Signal Corps' Army Pictorial Service and Army Communications Service
ID Number
2013.0327.0221
catalog number
2013.0327.0221
accession number
2013.0327

Raising the American flag in Rongerik

When World War II ended, President Truman authorized joint U.S. Army-Navy nuclear weapons tests to determine the effect of atomic bombs on American warships.
Description
When World War II ended, President Truman authorized joint U.S. Army-Navy nuclear weapons tests to determine the effect of atomic bombs on American warships. The Bikini Atoll was chosen to be the new nuclear proving ground for operation Crossroads because of its location away from regular air and sea routes. Mydans was sent to the island to document the exodus of the people of Bikini. The story was published by LIFE (Mar 25, 1946).
In March 1946, to make way for nuclear testing, the Bikinians were sent 125 miles eastward across the ocean on a U.S. navy landing craft to the uninhabited, sparsely vegetated Rongerik Atoll. Although the new island was slightly larger than Bikini and had more trees, the natives soon discovered that the trees produced few fruits. Within two months of their arrival, they began to beg U.S. officials to move them back to Bikini.
One year after being relocated, the military governor appointed an investigation board to look into the Bikinians plight. In a meeting with the people it was reported that there was insufficient food, fresh water supplies were low, and the atoll had only one brackish well. Within two years, the Bikinians were starving and had to be relocated once more.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1946
1946-03
photographer
Mydans, Carl
ID Number
2005.0228.117
accession number
2005.0228
catalog number
2005.0228.117

Fort Stewart Activities

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1940s
maker
Signal Corps' Army Pictorial Service and Army Communications Service
ID Number
2013.0327.0222
catalog number
2013.0327.0222
accession number
2013.0327

Fort Stewart Activities

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1940s
maker
Signal Corps' Army Pictorial Service and Army Communications Service
ID Number
2013.0327.0213
catalog number
2013.0327.0213
accession number
2013.0327

Wind Witch

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1940s
ID Number
PG.004618E
catalog number
4618E

The Head in the Wall

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1943
maker
Laughlin, Clarence John
ID Number
PG.006003B
accession number
216876
catalog number
6003B

Krane Kar in Service

Press print; vehicle with a crane in use to service planes; (untitled) by McGraw-Hill Photo Service Dept., gelatin silver prints.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Press print; vehicle with a crane in use to service planes; (untitled) by McGraw-Hill Photo Service Dept., gelatin silver prints.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1940s
maker
McGraw-Hill
ID Number
2013.0327.0555
catalog number
2013.0327.0555
accession number
2013.0327

Camera X kit

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
ca 1942
maker
Eastman Kodak Company
ID Number
PG.007043
catalog number
7043

Two Carpenters in Hamburg

Press print; two men standing along waterfront; holding fabric bags ("Elbe" visible on one) with a wooden beams sticking out of themCurrently not on view
Description (Brief)
Press print; two men standing along waterfront; holding fabric bags ("Elbe" visible on one) with a wooden beams sticking out of them
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1930s-1940s
ID Number
2013.0327.0596
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.0596

No. 16 Signal Hill Oil Field

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1940s
maker
Feininger, Andreas
ID Number
1990.0160.004
accession number
1990.0160
catalog number
1990.0160.004

Looking Northeast

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1949-07
ID Number
2013.0327.1168
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.1168

No. 21 Mt. Shasta seen from a distance of approximately 75 miles

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1947
maker
Feininger, Andreas
ID Number
1990.0160.084
catalog number
1990.0160.084
accession number
1990.0160

USDA librarian sorting shipments being sent overseas

date made
1946
referenced
United States Department of Agriculture
ID Number
2013.0327.1164
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.1164

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