Collections

Arts > Photography > Reference > Collections

• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/department.asp?dep=19
• The Metropolitan Museum's Department of Photographs surveys the history of photography from its invention in the 1830s to the present. The collection is largely European and American, with some representation of other parts of the world, particularly Japan. Information page with examples in roughly chronological order.
• Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog - http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html
• The LOC prints and photographs collections number more than 13.7 million images. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.
• George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film - http://www.geh.org/photographers.html
• The Photography Collection includes photographs and negatives dating from the invention of photography to the present day. Searchable by photographer.
• Moderna Museet, Stockholm - http://www.modernamuseet.se/v4/templates/template3.asp?id=1474
• Includes selections from the Helmer Backstrom collection and the Gernsheim Collection, focusing on older processes. Especially strong representation of Swedish photography.
• Musee de l'Elysee, Lausanne - http://www.elysee.ch/collections/collection_en.html
• The collection of the Museum (including the Elysée Foundation collection). This section presents the most important portfolios.
• European Photographs Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - http://www.mfa.org/artemis/results.asp?pk=2552&so=2&sd=0
• Includes works by Jean-Eugene Auguste Atget, August Sander, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert McPherson and Gustave Le Gray, among many others. Searchable by artist and title.
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - http://www.mfah.org/main.asp?target=collection&par1=14&par3=70
• The collection illustrates the evolution of early-20th-century photographic styles, beginning with photographs that imitate romantic painting styles. The MFAH´s collection is strongest in the new approaches to photography that emerged in the second half of the 20th century. Information page plus collection highlights.
• National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC - http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/ggphoto/ggphoto-main1.html
• The Photography collection of the NGA includes nineteenth- and twentieth-century photographs by European and American photographers. Information page plus tour of collection.
• Peabody Essex Museum - http://www.pem.org/collections/photography.php
• The photography collection comprises more than a half million rare and vintage images representing nearly every kind of photographic format and process, and featuring nineteenth-century photographs of Asia, maritime images, early American photographic portraits, as well as architectural and landscape images.
• Cleveland Museum of Art: Photography Collection - http://www.clevelandart.org/explore/department.asp?level=1&deptgroup=6
• A virtual tour of the photography collection. Although a very large number of prints may be viewed, no search tool is currently available.
• National Archives of Canada: Photography - http://www.collectionscanada.ca/02/020115_e.html
• The National Archives has acquired over twenty-two million photographs illustrating Canadian reality, and certain aspects of the world in general. The search tool allows to consult almost 400,000 descriptions of photographs, as well as to have access to some 10,000 digitized images on-line.
• Erwin E. Smith Collection - http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/
• Guide to the Smith collection at the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, including biography and photographs. Includes teaching resources.
• The Keystone-Mast Collection - http://www.cmp.ucr.edu/mainframe/collections/guides/kmast/
• The Keystone-Mast Collection at the California Museum of Photography represents the archive of the Keystone View Company of Meadville, PA. Offers an encyclopedic view of world history and cultural diversity.
• Taking the Long View, 1851-1991 - http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/panoramic_photo/
• Panoramic photographs from the American Memory collection at the Library of Congress.
• National Image Library - http://images.fws.gov/
• The United States Fish and Wildlife Service's online collection of public domain photographs.
• NOAA Photo Library - http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/
• Searchable photography collection focusing on the environment in the United States.
• Smithsonian Photographs - http://photo2.si.edu/
• Photography galleries covering topics ranging from air and space, to science, nature, technology, history, people, and places.