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      NMAH Photographic History Collection

      Smithsonian Staff

      #nmahphc

      The Photographic History Collection (PHC) represents the history of the medium of photography. The PHC holds the work of over 2000 identified photographers and studios, about 200,000 photographs, about 15,000 cameras, pieces of apparatus, studio equipment and sensitized materials. The scope of the collection spans from daguerreotypes to digital and includes unidentified to well-known photographers, international and United States-centered objects, and familiar and experimental photographic formats.

      The Photographic History Collection, now at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, was founded in 1896. The PHC was established by Thomas Smillie, the Smithsonian's first official photographer. Smillie established two photography collections ---the PHC and the Photo Lab which is now part of the Smithsonian Institution Archives, and he ran them simultaneously until his death in 1917. 

      The PHC uses the Smithsonian Learning Lab as a place to offer a view into the collection's rich and diverse holdings. What is presented here online is not the entire Photographic History Collection. This digital space is a work in progress. We started publishing to the Learning Lab in February 2020 and are adding and improving as quickly as we can.

      How to use the Smithsonian Learning Lab to discover PHC collections. 

      • To see a list of photographer and maker names, go here [link to come].
      • In the Learning Lab, the PHC's collections are organized into four groups: Photographer, Format/Process, Subject, and Cameras and Apparatus.
      • The Learning Lab collection only contains objects that have images attached to digital records. There may be additional objects and record information found at collections.si.edu.
      • The Learning Lab collection may only contain a sampling of images if the collection is substantial. Additional materials may be found at collections.si.edu.
      • Email us if you are looking for something specific.
      • Tip, use the tool that allows the user to see the collections alphabetically.

      Collection Staff:  Shannon Thomas Perich, Curator

      Contact: nmahphotohistory@si.edu

      General Keywords: history of photography, photographic history, photographer, photographers, portraits, landscapes, cameras, photographic equipment, studio equipment, fine art photography, experimental photography, digital photography, patent models, photographic studio, ephemera, documents, cinema history, early motion picture, photojournalism, amateur photography, photography exhibitions, commercial photography

      Photographic keywords: daguerreotype, calotype, salted paper print, gelatin silver print, tintype, ferrotype, ambrotype, collodion on glass, glass plate negative, platinum print, platinum-palladium print, photographs on fabric, cyanotype, cased images, ivorytype, stereoview, waxed paper negative, hologram, lenticular, Kromograms, press print, photo jewelry, stanhope, micro photography

      Additional research resources: In December 2019, research resources that had been held in the division were distributed to other Smithsonian units. The "Personality Files" that contained biographies, obituaries, exhibition announcements, and such were absorbed by the Smithsonian Library NPG/AA branch; the list of subjects can be found here [link to come]. The "Archives Reference Files" that contained information about companies, products, and occasionally processes, were absorbed into the trade literature collection at the National Museum of American History branch of the Smithsonian Library. The Science Service images and files, the divisions's exhibition history files, personal files, correspondence files, and more can be found at the Smithsonian Archives.

      NMAH Photographic History Collection's collections

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      Subject: Christmas #nmahphc

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      Subject: Buses and Bus stops #nmahphc

      <p>This is a selection of photographs from the Photographic History Collection that relates to bus and bus stops.<br></p> <p>For additional images, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p>Keywords (subject): bus, bus stop, interior, exterior, destination indicator, transportation, buses designed to live in, hippie buses, public transportation, segregation, waiting for a bus, rider, Greyhound, city bus, Ken Kesey, Further, country music, music industry, bands, music park, Atlanta, San Francisco, American Southwest, New Mexico, commuter, tourists</p> <p>Keywords (photography): Mark James Powers, Lisa Law, Roy Zalesky, Henry Horenstein, color photography, gelatin silver print, photojournalism, fine art photography, documentary photography, reportage</p>
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      Subject: Botanical Studies #nmahphc

      <p>This is an assortment of photographs from the Photographic History Collection related to plants. <br></p> <p>See Learning Lab collections for <em>Karl Blossfeldt</em> and <em>Adolf Fassbender</em>. Also see the Learning Lab collection <em>Agriculture</em> for crops and farm-related plants.  </p> <p>For additional images, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p>Keywords: art photography, ghost plants, botanical specimen</p> <p>Keywords: photogravure, heliotype, gelatin silver print, stereograph, stereoview, real photo postcard</p> <p><br>This collection has a few images that may not fall within a strict definition of <em>botanical studies</em> in order to hint at some broader uses in which flowers and plants might cross from study to another genre or photographic element. <em></em>This collection does not include still lifes with flowers, flowers used as decoration, or flower arranging.  The <em>Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr</em> collection contains many images in which flowers are worn by or incorporated in to photographs of women.<em></em><br><br></p>
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      Subject: Art #nmahphc

      <p>This is a selection of photographs from the Photographic History Collection that depict art related activities, art galleries, displays, artists at work, and photographs of paintings and sculptures. This Learning Lab collection is divided into four categories: </p> <ul><li>artists at work</li><li>portraits of artists</li><li>art on display</li><li>photographs of art objects</li></ul> <p>There are separate Learning Lab collections for <em><strong>Portraits of Photographers</strong></em> and <em><strong>Photographers at Work</strong></em>.</p> <p>For additional images, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p>Keywords<em>:</em></p> <p>See also the Learning Lab collection <em><strong>Museums</strong></em> for photographs of exhibitions and installations in museums, museum buildings, museum education, and other museum activities. For Smithsonian related activities, search collections.si.edu and sia.si.edu.</p>
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      Subject: American Presidents and Vice Presidents #nmahphc

      <p>This is an assortment of photographs from the Photographic History Collection of American Presidents and Vice Presidents<br></p> <p>Please note, some of these photographs have copyright assignments.</p> <p>Keywords: POTUS, President of the United States, president at rest, president at work, Oval Office, White House, press conference, president at play</p> <p>Presidents:  Ulysses S. Grant, Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, George H. Bush, Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter, Lyndon B. Johnson, William McKinley, Franklin Pierce</p> <p>Vice Presidents: Dick Cheney, Spiro Agnew, Al Gore, Hannibal Hamlin</p>
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      Subject: American Flags #nmahphc

      <p><br>This is an assortment of photographs from the Photographic History Collection of photographs and photographic objects that include an American flag.<br></p> <p></p> <p>For additional images, search collections.si.edu.<br></p> <p></p> <p>Keywords (subject): American flag, U.S. flag, Old Glory, Star Spangled Banner, parade, protest, march, veteran, military, political rally, grave, activism, patriotism, Fourth of July parade, 4th of July, decoration, September 11, 2001, 9/11</p> <p></p> <p>Keywords (photography): tintype, ambrotype, real photo postcard, documentary photography, photojournalism, gelatin silver print, color photography, press print, stereograph, stereoview</p> <p></p>
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      Photographer: Wilson, George Washington #nmahphc

      <p>This is a selection of photographs from the Photographic History Collection of work by George Washington Wilson.<br></p> <p>For additional images, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p>Keywords: Scottish photographer, Scotland, England, cathedral, landscape, lakes, bridges, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Balmoral Castle, Lincoln Cathedral, Robert Burns cottage, Dunkeld, Killiecrankie, rivers, valleys, Shetland, rock formations, oceanside, seaside, Orkney, standing stones, loch, waterfall, Skye, Inverness,  Glencoe, Loch Ness, Staffa, caves, isle, mountain pass, abbey, churck, kirk, Edinburgh, nineteenth century photography</p>
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      Photographer: Walker, Diana #nmahphc

      <p>The Diana Walker collection at the NMAH Photographic History Department consists of 140 photographs reflecting her career as a photojournalist.  These include her tenure as a TIME Magazine photographer at the White House from 1984-2004, as well as other assignments.<br></p> <p>Copyright Diana Walker.</p> <p>For more images, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p>Keywords: photojournalist, women photographers, First Ladies, FLOTUS, President of the United States, POTUS, Vice-President of the United States, VPOTUS, Secretary of State, Senator, campaign photography, reportage, portraiture, journalism, photographs of the military, laughing, heads of state</p>
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      Photographer: von Martens, Friederich

      <p>The Friederich von Martens collection at the NMAH Photographic History Department includes some of the earliest panoramic photographs ever taken.  The collection is composed of thirty-eight albumen photographs taken with a panoramic camera he built in the mid-nineteenth century. Included in the collection is a set of mechanical drawings, patent information and personal correspondace related to von Martens panoramic camera and photographs. Many of the photographs in this collection are of Paris in the mid 1800s. There are also nature studies and photographs of drawings/paintings.</p> <p>Keywords: Panoramic photography, Paris, nature studies</p>
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      Photographer: Salomon, Erich #nmahphc

      <p>The Erich Salomon Collection consists of two groups of gelatin silver prints from 1927-1943, totaling 140 prints. There is some duplication between the groups. Accession 2002.0258 was acquired in 1965 from Salomon’s son, Peter Hunter. These prints were made from Salomon’s original negatives. Accession 2002.0259 was acquired in 1965 from Magnum Photos. Subjects in the collection are mainly photographs of politicians, diplomats, business magnates, royalty; European and American.<br></p> <p>Keywords: photojournalism, journalism, visual culture, print history, media history, Holocaust victim<br><br></p> <p>Dr. Erich Salomon (1886-1944) was born to a prominent Jewish family in Berlin, Germany. He became a lawyer before the outbreak of World War I but was drafted into service. When he returned, his family had lost its fortune and he needed to work. Salomon became interested in photography and soon specialized in taking photographs where cameras were not allowed and without his subject’s knowledge.</p> <p>Salomon became famous in 1928 when his photographs from the Johann Hein murder trial in Coburg, Germany were published in the Berliner Illustrirte newspaper [see images PG*008164.42 and PG*008164.47]. From that point, Salomon became a freelance photographer, gaining admittance to even the most secure meetings and banquets. Salomon was labeled the first “candid cameraman” and called himself a bildjournalist, still the German word for “photojournalist.”</p> <p>Salomon first used the common journalist’s camera – a 13 x 18 cm Contessa Nettel – but it was too cumbersome for his purposes. He soon switched to the Ermanox, a small plate-loaded camera perfect for photographing in low lighting. Salomon mastered the technique and used it until 1932 when he traded it for the Leica.</p> <p>In 1933 Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. As Jews, Salomon and his family were forced to flee to Holland, his wife’s homeland, for protection. Based in The Hague, he had greater access to the political conferences but he also began taking photographs of cultural events, such as concerts. Salomon traveled to Britain and the United States as well. In 1943, while on the verge of immigrating to America, Salomon, his wife and one son were forced to go into hiding when the Nazis overtook Holland. They were eventually deported and died at the Auschwitz labor camp in July 1944.</p> <p>Salomon’s images survive to this day because of his foresight. In order to keep the negatives safe he hid them in three separate places in Holland during the war. The first group was placed in the Dutch Parliament library. The second, he buried in the chicken coup at a friend’s home. This group was critically damaged by the dampness, though many of the plates are still printable. The third was in the custody of son Peter Hunter. In 1952, the collection was consolidated in Amsterdam. Beginning in the 1950s, there were a number of exhibitions of his work, including a 1958 traveling exhibition which was acquired by the Smithsonian.</p> <p>For more images by Erich Salomon search collections.si.edu.</p> <p><br></p>
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      Photographer: Rushton, Charles #nmahphc

      <p>Charles Ruston is an American photographer that made portraits of New Mexico-based photographers between the years of 1980 and 1994.  This particular collection consists of thirty-eight prints.  The collection includes photographers Tom Barrows, Van Deren Coke, Betty Hahn, David Michael Kennedy, Patrick Nagatani, Beaumont Newhall, and Joel-Peter Witkin.  The earliest print in this collection is of Manuel Carrillo in 1982, and the last piece added to the collection is of Holly Roberts in 1994. <br></p> <p>Copyright Charles Rushton</p> <p>Keywords: photographs of photographers, people with cameras<br> <br>Rushton chose this particular project after attending a Zone VI workshop offered by Fred Picker in Vermont in 1980.  While at the workshop Rushton was given specific advice to pick a topic and stick to it instead of switching random topics every day.  This was when Rushton had the idea to photograph artists and photographers upon returning home to New Mexico.  With help of photographer friend, Bob Hooten, Rushton was able to obtain the names of  photographers that suited the parameters of his project.  After a few years Rushton sold some of his prints to the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History for their collection of portraits of New Mexico Artists and expressed interest in seeing his future work.  With the permission of the museum, Rushton used the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History name to help him gain influence and access to more famous photographers such as Beaumont Newhall.  <br> <br>Rushton studied photography under Fred Picker, Oliver Gagliani (depicted in the collection), and Arnold Newman (depicted in the collection).  </p>
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      Photographer: Raab, Susana #nmahphc

      <p>This is a selection of photographs by Susana Raab.<br></p> <p>Copyright Susana Raab.</p> <p>Keywords: women photographers, color photography, documentary photography, state fair, food, Elvis, Pepsi, hot dog contest, Superman, drive through, wheelchair</p>
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