<p>The Carl Mydans Collection at the National Museum of American History consists of 166 photographs that span the years from the mid-1930s to the late 1960s, and two Halliburton camera cases that contain all his photographic equipment. <br></p> <p>For additional images, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p>Keywords: photojournalist, photojournalism, war photography, documentary photography, visual culture, picture magazines, current events, reportage, crisis photography, war coverage, Farm Security Administration, FSA, World War Two, World War II, WWII, Korean War, Life Magazine, U.S. Camera, Time Magazine</p> <p>Text from PHC finding aid written by Vanessa Pares:</p> <p>The photographs in the Photographic History Collection include the rural images created as part of his work for the Farm Security Administration and those taken while on assignment for <em>LIFE</em> magazine. In the mid-1930s, he covered cattle drives in the Big Bend, the oil boomtown of Freer and “brushhogs,” migratory workers who lived by the side of the road. A few years later, he completed the series on “sandhogs,” construction workers who built the Midtown Tunnel under the East River in New York City. </p> <p>During the 1940s, he recorded events of the Second World War, mainly in the Pacific theater. Once the war ended, he was sent to Bikini Island Atoll, an island chain in the Pacific that is part of the Marshall Islands chain. There he documented the evacuation of the people of Bikini from their home island in order to clear the way for major atomic testing, and the Bikinians' exodus to nearby Rongerik.</p> <p>The rest of the collection includes portraits of major political, military, and literary figures, such as Winston Churchill, General MacArthur and William Faulkner. Carl Mydans was a storyteller. Always seeking the drama and history of a moment, his pictures are meant to recount a story with no words. Carl Mydans was born in Boston on May 20, 1907. He graduated from Boston University with a degree in journalism, after which he went on to work as a free-lance writer for the <em>Boston Herald</em> and the <em>Boston Globe</em>. While a staff writer for the <em>American Banker</em>, Mydans began to carry a miniature camera on his assignments.</p> <p>In 1935, he carried a camera full time, joining the photographic unit of the Resettlement Administration, which merged into the Farm Security Administration in 1937. Under the supervision of Roy Stryker, a group of photographers—composed of Dorothea Lange, Walker Evens, Ben Shahn, Arthur Rothstein and Carl Mydans, among others—was sent on assignment to make a difference by reporting and documenting the plight of the poor farmer. Their task was to create a “pictorial history” of agriculture and focus on those most affected by the Great Depression. The photographers would tour the nation and interpret it through the shape of the land and the faces of the unemployed, the migrant farmers, and the sharecroppers. During this time, Mydans documented cotton production in the southeastern states, the impoverished dwellings of New England, and the creation of new “greenbelt towns” or government-sponsored planned communities. </p> <p>In 1936, Mydans left the FSA and was hired by the newly established <em>LIFE</em> magazine. One of his first assignments for <em>LIFE</em> was a photo essay on Texas, focusing mainly on the oil boomtown of Freer. It was also at this time that he met Shelley Smith, a <em>LIFE</em> researcher and journalist whom he married the following year. Once World War II broke out, the couple was sent to Europe as a reporter-photographer team. At first they went to England, covering London under siege, then to Sweden, and then to Finland, where Mydans had his first combat experience. The couple later traveled to Italy to cover Fascism, to France to witness its defeat, to Pearl Harbor to photograph American naval operations, and then to China. When the attack on Pearl Harbor occured, Carl and his wife were in Manila, the Philippines. Early in 1942, the Philippines were invaded by the Japanese and the couple was imprisoned. After almost nine months of captivity, they were moved from Santo Tomas University—an internment camp for civilians—to Shanghai. On December 1943, the couple, along with 1,400 American and Canadian citizens, was repatriated. Although Mydans was unable to cover the war, he was grateful to have survived and continue to watch and photograph all the events that encompassed his life. Soon after his return to the States, he was sent back to the European front. </p> <p>In 1944, he accompanied Allied forces to Italy where he covered the campaigns in Monte Cassino and Rome. After Italy, Mydans traveled to Marseilles to cover the fighting in southern France. Following the liberation of France, he was rushed back to the South Pacific to rejoin Gen. Douglas MacArthur for his triumphant return to the Philippines. Three weeks after the invasion of Luzon, Mydans took part in the charge into Manila—which concluded with the liberation of the remaining 4,000 civilian captives in Santo Tomas—alongside the 8th Cavalry Regiment. Months later, on September 2, 1945, Mydans was one of the few privileged photojournalists to be present at the site of the official Japanese surrender on the <em>U.S.S. Missouri</em>. After the Second World War, the Mydans took up residence in Tokyo, where he worked as chief editor of the TIME-LIFE news bureau. During those years, he captured the earthquake at Fukui, the Communist Revolution in China, and the war in Korea. </p> <p>In 1950, while on a trip to New York, Mydans received word of the outbreak of the Korean war. It only took him ten days to get himself shipped back into battle. Later that year, he received a Gold Achievement Award from <em>U.S. Camera</em> for his coverage of the Korean conflict. After the war, Mydans completed assignments in England, Berlin, and Russia, and traveled to Vietnam in 1968 to do a story on refugees. After the closing of <em>LIFE</em>, he continued to work as a photojournalist with <em>TIME</em> magazine, and wrote books based on his experiences at war. Mydans died on August 16, 2004.</p>

<p>This is a collection of photographs from the Photographic History Collection of work by Burk Uzzle.<br></p> <p>For additional images, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p>Keywords: fine art photography, street photography, modernism, abstraction, humor, satire, architectural photography, women, couples, beaches, urban landscape, composition, The West, protest, motorcycle, diner, street view</p>

<p>This is a collection of photography from the Photographic History Collection by Mark James Powers.</p> <p>For additional images, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p>Keywords: self-portrait, bathroom, street photography, color photography, store windows, gelatin silver print, humor, women, The Who, rock and roll, theater marquee, hot dog vendor, protest, politics, Wallace campaign, Nixon impeachment, politics, bus, transvestite, strippers, domestic violence, California</p>

<p>The Nickolas Muray collection at the NMAH Photographic History Department includes  six bromide and forty-six color-carbro photographs. They range in subject from commercial photography to portraits of famous individuals spanning from the 1920s through the early 1960s.<br></p> <p> Additional photographs by Muray can be found in the Learning Lab collection containing stills of Hollywood movie stars.<br></p> <p>For additional collections, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p>Keywords: advertising photography, dance photography, performance photography, magazine work, color carbro photography, color photography, platinum photography, dancers, dance photography, food photography</p>

<p>This is a collection of works by Karl Blossfeldt from the Photographic History Collection.<br></p> <p>For additional images, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p>Keywords: art of nature, plant photography, biology, botany, trees, plants, flowers, succulents, photo mechanical, rotogravure</p>

<p>This is a selection of Leica cameras from Photographic History Collection (PHC) at the National Museum of American History (NMAH). The PHC holds  has a significant collection of Leica cameras, lenses, and accessories totaling more than 200 items including over 25 cameras from the 1920s to the 2000s. This Learning Lab collection includes a pdf finding aid for Leica cameras.  Included in the PHC are cameras used by photojournalists Carl Mydans and J. Ross Baughman.<br></p> <p>For additional collections, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p><span class="fontstyle0">Keywords: Leica, Barnack, 35mm, photography, camera<br></span></p> <p><span class="fontstyle0">From the finding aid written by Anthony Brooks:<br>Leica Cameras have a unique position in the history of 35mm film photography. The Leica was not the first still camera taking 35mm film. It was not even the first commercially successful 35mm camera, but it set the gold standard for all other 35mm cameras and turned 35mm cameras from toys into serious professional tools.</span></p> <p><span class="fontstyle0">The 35mm film gauge was first introduced in 1892 by Kodak for use by Thomas Edison to make movie films. Edison quickly settled on a standard frame size (18 x 24mm) with four sprocket holes per frame. This movie standard has remained unchanged. The growth of the movie industry in the early twentieth century required large quantities of 35mm film. 1000 feet of 35mm movie film creates less than 20 minutes of movie images. Soon there was interest in using this film for still photography and after 1910, the first 35mm cameras appeared. Most of the early 35mm camera designs used the single frame 18x24mm format and many used lengths of film capable of taking a hundred or more exposures. The quality of photographs from this small format was often disappointing and the number of exposures was a deterrent to amateur photographers. A contemporary small Kodak vest pocket camera took larger negatives on an eight exposure roll and produced better quality prints. </span>The majority of early 35mm cameras were not commercially successful and are rare today. One exception was the American made Ansco Memo introduced in 1926 that for a few years had a dedicated following. However, the introduction of the Leica 35mm camera was to dramatically change the status of 35mm photography. </p> <p><span class="fontstyle0">The Leica was designed by Oscar Barnack, an employee of the Leitz Optical Company based in Wetzlar, Germany. Barnack may have conceived the first Leica for test exposures in the 18x24mm single frame format. Test exposures were often taken to check the lighting set-up for movies and portraits. However, at some point Barnack decided to design a 35mm camera for photography in its own right. In order to improve<br>image quality Barnack used two single frames and thus the standard 35mm film frame was born. The PHC contains many significant items that represent the history of Leica cameras.</span> </p> <p></p> <p><br></p> <p><br></p> <p></p>

<p>This is a sampling of cameras from the Photographic History Collection at the National Museum of American History.  <br></p> <p>For specific cameras and additional collections, search collections.si.edu or contact the division.<br></p> <p>The Photographic History Collection holds a wide range of cameras, plate holders, tripods, illumination, sensitized materials (papers, plates, film, etc), printing and processing equipment, chemicals, studio furniture, and other accessories and apparatus related to picture making.<br></p> <p>Types of cameras in the Photographic History Collection include:<br></p> <ul><li>Aerial</li><li>Banquet</li><li>Box</li><li>Cell phone</li><li>Daguerreotype</li><li>Digital</li><li>Disposable</li><li>Folding</li><li>Field</li><li>Film (35mm, 4X5, 8X10)</li><li>Gun</li><li>Hidden </li><li>Instant/ Instamatic</li><li>Magic Lantern</li><li>Movie</li><li>Early Motion Picture (amateur, professional, commercial)</li><li>Multi-lens</li><li>Patent Model</li><li>Pinhole</li><li>Polaroid</li><li>Press</li><li>Prototype</li><li>School Picture</li><li>Stereo</li><li>Spy and subminiature (including toy)</li><li>Tintype</li><li>Tri-color</li><li>Twin-Lens Reflex</li><li>Underwater</li><li>Video</li><li>View </li><li>Wet collodion</li></ul> <p style="margin-left:0px;">Cameras, apparatus, and/or studio furniture owned by the followed are included in the Photographic History Collection (excluding patent model associations):<br></p> <ul><li>Thomas Armat</li><li>J. Ross Baughman</li><li>Mathew Brady</li><li>Chester Carlson</li><li>William Henry Draper</li><li>William "Doc" Edgerton</li><li>Rudolf Eickemeyer, Jr.</li><li>Tom Howard</li><li>Frederick Eugene Ives</li><li>Charles Frederick Jenkins</li><li>Edwin Land</li><li>Eugene Lauste</li><li>Morrison Studio</li><li>Samuel F. B. Morse</li><li>Frederick Mueller</li><li>Nickolas Muray</li><li>Eadweard Muybridge</li><li>Carl Mydans</li><li>Louie Palu</li><li>Addison Scurlock/ Scurlock Studio</li><li>William Henry Fox Talbot</li><li>Victor Keppler</li><li>Edward Weston</li></ul> <p></p> <p></p>

<p>This is a selection of photographs from the Photographic History Collection related to the beach.<br></p> <p>For additional images, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p>Keywords (subject): beach, beaches, sand, shore, shoreline, boardwalk, ocean, sea, lake, bathing suit, bathing costume, swimsuit, sandcastle, Miami, Atlantic City, pier, dock, swimming, beach umbrella, tanning, tan line, sunbathing, tourism, vacation, holiday</p> <p>Keywords (photography): snapshot, fine art photographs, documentary photography, souvenir photography, stereoview, stereograph, glass plate negative, advertising, press print, nude study, Pictorailism, Burk Uzzle, Rudolph Eickemeyer, Jr, Elliot Erwitt, Ray K. Metzker, Edward Weston</p>

<p>This is a selection of photography by Gertrude Kasebier from the Photographic History Collection (PHC). The PHC is the only museum collection to hold a significant volume of her works of Native Americans.<br></p> <p>For additional images, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p>Keywords: platinum, gum bichromate, Pictorialism, Native Americans, artists, sculptor, motherhood, portraiture, photographic presentation, ledger drawings, side lighting, window light, grief</p>

<h2> The Ansel Adams collection in the Photographic History Collection consists of twenty-five photographs, all printed about 1968. All are gelatin silver, mounted, labeled and signed in ink by the photographer. The photographs include many of his most well-known images. The selection of images was made in collaboration between the collecting curator and Adams. The date range of the collection is 1923-1962.<br></h2> <p>For additional images, search collections.si.edu.</p> <p>Keywords: <em>f</em>-64 group, modernism, straight photography, gelatin silver print, Yosemite National Park, the American West, trees, landscape photography, seascape, portraiture<br></p> <p>The first twelve photographs in the collection were purchased from Adams in December 1968.  The other thirteen photographs were given to the Smithsonian from Adams in December 1968.  </p> <p>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. </p> <p>The works in the collection were used in a Smithsonian exhibition titled, "American Masters," January 26, 1974-September 1, 1975, in the Hall of Photography, National Museum of American History.  The "American Masters" exhibition included recently acquired work by Adams, Lisette Model, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Minor White, Aaron Siskind, Harry Callahan, Jerry Uelsmann, Lee Friedlander, Wynn Bullock, Gyorgy Kepes, Paul Caponigro, and Diane Arbus.  Adams had two previous SI exhibitions, one in 1931, and a traveling exhibition in 1956.  There is no documentation stating whether any of these photographs were used in the exhibitions. </p> <p> </p> <p><br></p>

<p><br>This is a small sampling from more than fifty photographs and objects related to photographer John Paul Caponigro that are included in the Photographic History Collection. </p> <p>The collection represents the scope of Caponigro's relationship with photography and digital tools, including some early equipment (an Epson printer he beta-tested, Photoshop 2.0), demonstrations of thought processes (pastel color studies, pen and ink composition studies), postcards (sent, unsent, iPhone camera used to manipulate images), and works on paper and metal. One work is a collaboration with his father, photographer, Paul Caponigro. Also of note, is Caponigro's portrait of Jerry Uelsmann (2005.0096.05).</p> <p>Copyright held by John Paul Caponigro.</p> <p>Keywords: digital photography, manipulated images, digital print, pigment print, dye sublimation on aluminum, postcards, Georgia O'Keefe, Jerry Uelsmann</p> <p></p> <p>For additional materials, search collection.si.edu </p> <p></p> <p> <br></p> <p></p>

<p>This collection is a sampling of photographs from the Photographic History Collection of circuses, circus performers, carnivals, the midway, circus animals, carnival workers and games.<br></p> <p>Sally Bordwell photographed the carnival in 1970s and Dawn Rogala photographed traveling circuses in the 1990s. </p> <p>See collections.si.edu for additional images.</p> <p>The Circus Collection includes the Photographic History Collection’s object holdings related to the history of circus from the end of the nineteenth to the turn of the twenty-first century. For the purpose of this finding aid, circus is defined as any activity relating to the staging and viewing of circus, sideshow, or “freak show” performances. The collection is primarily composed of thirty cabinet print and thirteen carte-de-visite photographs of performers in circus “freak shows.” Some of these prints are marked with the identities of the individuals depicted, including Chang and Eng, Siamese twins employed by the Barnum & Bailey circus and Tom Thumb, a famous performer with dwarfism. In a number of the photographs, the people who performed for the circus are accompanied by their families, or “normal” individuals to emphasize the distinctiveness of the performer. The collection also includes a photo album with twenty-three photographs of circus performers. These pictures show “freak show” performers, acrobats, and other individuals who may have performed in circus shows.</p> <p>The collection also includes several books. In the handmade book, <em>Record of an Idle Summer</em>, Florence Albrecht details her summer activities and shares reflections on her time on the Jersey Shore in 1906. In the chapter “May,” the author describes the circus coming to town, including several photographs of circus tents, elephants, and a parade down the main street of the town. P.T. Barnum’s autobiography Struggles and Triumphs also exists in the Photographic History Collection. In the book, Barnum recounts his life’s endeavors, including his New York American Museum and eponymous circus. While there are no photographs in the book, there are a number of illustrations, including a portrait of P.T. Barnum based on G. K. Warren’s photograph, pictures of his museum and various aspects of his traveling show. There is a collection of gelatin silver photographs made in 1972 by Lesley Sussmann and Sally Bordwell documenting carnivals across the American South.</p>