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.

Resource Type: Photographs

Putting cloth in bucket

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885-07-16
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0638
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0638
maker number
932

Acid strobe dancing, "The Freek Out", Los Angeles, CA, 1965

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
1965
date printed
1997
maker
Law, Lisa
ID Number
1998.0139.028
catalog number
1998.0139.028
accession number
1998.0139

Crossing brook on step stones with fishing pole and basket

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885-09-15
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0142.01
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0142.1
maker number
1322

Backyard, Venice

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
negative 1957
print 1981
maker
Frank, Robert
ID Number
PG.69.195.4
accession number
298965
catalog number
69.195.4

Emilien Bouglione

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1955
maker
Avedon, Richard
ID Number
PG.006923
catalog number
6923
accession number
246041

Bricklaying

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0763
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0763

Ben Nevis, from Corpach

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1860s-1880s
maker
Wilson, G. W.
ID Number
2013.0305.042
catalog number
2013.0305.042
accession number
2013.0305

Crossing brook on step stones with fishing pole and basket

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0142.02
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0142.2
maker number
1323

Walter Bracken on a Horse

Glass plate negative made by Walter J. Hussey, 1890. Walter Bracken in a suit and hat on a horse.
Description
Glass plate negative made by Walter J. Hussey, 1890. Walter Bracken in a suit and hat on a horse. Walter Bracken would later be in charge of the Union Pacific Railroad in Nevada.
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
1890
maker
Hussey, Walter J.
ID Number
2011.0090.30
accession number
2011.0090
catalog number
2011.0090.30

Canter, saddle; thoroughbred bay mare, Annie G

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0464
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0464
maker number
1285

Marianne Moore

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1958
maker
Avedon, Richard
ID Number
PG.006926B
catalog number
6926-B
accession number
246041

Descending stairs and turning

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885-07-21
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0117
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0117
maker number
1375

The White Night

From Pictorial Artistry: The Dramatization of the Beautiful in PhotographyChristmas! The Spell of Yuletide everywhere… enhanced a thousand-fold for me by the all-blanketing blizzard. Excitedly, the snowflakes whipped and clung to my face and camera like myriad tiny hands.
Description
From Pictorial Artistry: The Dramatization of the Beautiful in Photography
Christmas! The Spell of Yuletide everywhere… enhanced a thousand-fold for me by the all-blanketing blizzard. Excitedly, the snowflakes whipped and clung to my face and camera like myriad tiny hands. Now and then, the sounds of the crunching footsteps made me aware of strangers passing by furtively. The park was shrouded in the mystery of this luminous night. The high ascending buildings that frame the park were lost in the far-reaching darkness. But the bright glow to the south was unmistakable. There stands the Plaza. A tiny bell tinkled… a “Santa Claus” still at his post somewhere waiting for alms. The world about me, so aloof in the snowy stillness, held a serenity that filled me with gladness… an unknown something that for me is the spirit of Christmas… so glorious, so white, on this night of nights.
Composition:
We are led into the picture field over a winding black brook, resembling one of the many strange designs of the Chinese Dragon, culminating in a mysterious glow beyond the trees. The fantastic towers in the dim distance group themselves in pyramidal fashion and lend dignity to the drama.
Technical Problems:
The buildings were not visible, but their position was known through my daytime familiarity with the setting. The feeling of snow in the air was lost, due to time exposure and had to be reintroduced by printing a texture into the image during enlarging. The icy snow settled between metal parts of the camera and on the lens which made the camera useless after one exposure.
Data:
Camera: 4x6 inches
Lens: Zeiss Tessar 7 ¼ inches
Stop: f:11
Exposure: 3 ½ minutes
Plate: Illingworth Lightning
Exhibition Print: 12x17 inches, direct enlarging
Paper: Tuma Gas, blue toned"
by Adolf Fassbender, 1937
Location
Currently not on view
date made
before 1937
maker
Fassbender, Adolf
ID Number
PG.004116.01
accession number
146001
catalog number
4116.01

Three dogs tugging at a towel

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0528
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0528
maker number
575

Camel 'Bactrian', galloping

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0546
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0546
maker number
1146

Khrushchev visits Hollywood

In 1959 Mydans photographed Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev on his visit to the United States. During his stay, Khrushchev visited the Twentieth Century Fox studios during the filming of the movie Can-Can. Khrushchev came on the set with his wife, bodyguards, politicians, U.S.
Description
In 1959 Mydans photographed Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev on his visit to the United States. During his stay, Khrushchev visited the Twentieth Century Fox studios during the filming of the movie Can-Can. Khrushchev came on the set with his wife, bodyguards, politicians, U.S. officials, and studio heads who ordered the dancers to perform an entire can-can number for the elite guests.
The film, starring Shirley MacLaine, received worldwide publicity because of Khrushchev's visit. The next day's newspapers carried an interesting quote from him. When asked what he thought of Can-Can, he replied, "The face of humanity is prettier than its backside."
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1959
photographer
Mydans, Carl
ID Number
2005.0228.154
accession number
2005.0228
catalog number
2005.0228.154

In the Oasis

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1926-03
maker
Petrocelli, Joseph
ID Number
PG.003986.29
accession number
117570
catalog number
3986.29

Atomic bomb explosion

Black and white photograph of an Atomic bomb explosion by Harlold Edgerton. Using his Rapatronic Camera, Edgerton positioned himself over seven miles from the bomb release site and was able to photograph the initial stages of the bomb at one ten-millionth of a second.
Description
Black and white photograph of an Atomic bomb explosion by Harlold Edgerton. Using his Rapatronic Camera, Edgerton positioned himself over seven miles from the bomb release site and was able to photograph the initial stages of the bomb at one ten-millionth of a second.
date made
1940s
maker
Edgerton, H.
ID Number
PG.7034D
catalog number
7034D
maker number
7034F-N-92-16872
accession number
246413

Raccoon, galloping

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0679
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0679
maker number
1197

untitled

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
2001
maker
Dreskin, Cybele
ID Number
2005.0237.05
catalog number
2005.0237.05
accession number
2005.0237

President Nixon and Henry Kissinger

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
February 10, 1971
depicted (sitter)
Nixon, Richard M.
maker
Maroon, Fred J.
ID Number
1999.0147.113
accession number
1999.0147
catalog number
1999.0147.113

Building first adobe structure on land at 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
1998.0139.077
catalog number
1998.0139.077
accession number
1998.0139

Muscular atrophy of legs - a dull walking

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0422
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0422
maker number
671

man stands at a workbench

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1910-15
maker
Lumiere Company
ID Number
2003.0016.14
accession number
2003.0016
catalog number
2003.0016.14

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