American Museum of Natural History

Photography Collection

Diana Rosenthal

Origins of AMNH photo collection

● AMNH founded in 1869● Photographs collected

purposefully from the beginning

● Oldest negatives date to late 1800s

● Photography studio opened in early 1900s

● Current collection contains more than 1 million photographs1907

What formats are in the collection?● Black-and-white negatives, ranging from 35 mm

to 11 x 14 inches (>850,000)

● Photographic prints representing more than 900 different collections (125,000 individual photographs)

● Scrapbooks created in various AMNH departments (52)

● Large-format color transparencies (>9,000)● 35 mm color slides representing more than 600

collections (>150,000 individual slides)● Lantern slides (>55,000 colored/uncolored

slides)

Subjects pictured in the collection● Images document scientific

work worldwide● Cover fields of

anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, geology, paleontology, zoology

● Photographs from every continent

● Photos of the stars● Images document history of

AMNH, AMNH staff at work

● Images also depict permanent and temporary exhibits

1912

Who generates the photographs?● Photos created by

scientific staff and AMNH photo studio

● Some images donated, some purchased

● Photography collection maintained by AMNH education department until 1967, transferred to library

● Photos housed/managed/cataloged by AMNHResearch Library

Unknown, but pre-1925

Who uses the collection?● AMNH curatorial

and scientific staff

● Academic researchers

● Writers● General public● Most groups rely

on library catalog/help from librarians to find materials

1914

Digitization of the collection

1898

● Library won grant to fund pilot program to digitize, describe, and make available online 1000 images

● Pilot program turned into larger, grant-funded project to digitize and describe more images

● Digital Special Collections page launched in April 2014 with 7,000 fully cataloged digital images on Omeka

More on digitization

● Currently, Digital Special Collections page has nearly 11,000 images

● 5,650 digital images currently being cataloged

● 194,000 images in various stages of post-scanning processing

● 7,000 scanned and cataloged legacy images to be incorporated into Omeka

Unknown

How is the collection accessed?

Unknown, but pre-1904

● Library catalog/slide inventory provides most info on physical collections

● Digital Special Collections can link researchers to library for more help/info about collections

● Research appointments necessary to view physical materials; often, photos are scanned and provided for non-commercial use

● Licensing and reproduction now handled by Global Business Development office

Metadata and authority control

1962

● Images described using Library of Congress Subject Headings, Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

● Local AMNH vocabularies also employed

● Metadata entered into modified Dublin Core fields in Omeka database

Spotlight: Lantern slides

Unknown

Unknown, but pre-1919

● Collection contains about 55,000 lantern slides

● Once circulated to NY schools to educate students on natural history

● Used for AMNH lectures to educate public

● Prized accomplishment of Albert Bickmore, founder of AMNH

Spotlight: Expeditions and exhibitions

1894

● Recent effort to categorize some images by expedition based on existing collections

● Beginning with oldest, most famous expeditions, like Peary, Jesup, and Pepper

● Currently, most-accessed collection is Chinese expedition of early 1900s

Final thoughts

1936

● Surprised by low numbers of digitized images

● Library relies heavily on volunteers and interns to maintain project

● Photos are a priority for library and generate grant money

● Would like to see input from AMNH staff to enhance record linkages

Thank you!Questions?