Photographica

The Arnold Arboretum Visual Archives document the history and activities of the institution. Begun in the 1880s as an adjunct to the living, library, and herbarium collections, today the Arboretum’s visual archives include over 65,000 items. Digital images, black-and-white and color prints, 35mm slides and their predecessor lantern slides, trace the creation and management of the Arboretum’s landscape, record individual plants in the living collections, present our staff, and document our plant collection expeditions.

The camera has chronicled the history of industry since the invention of the medium in 1839, and the photograph holdings at Baker Library Historical Collections are the result of a tradition of extensive collecting efforts for research and teaching that began with the founding of Harvard Business School (HBS) in 1908.

The Fine Arts Library's Middle East and Islamic photo collection documents Islamic art and architecture, as well as ethnographic views that provide cultural context.

The Fine Arts Library's photographic archives include works of former Harvard faculty members, as well as other architectural and ethnographic scholars.

The Fine Arts Library's print and photograph collections document works of art, architecture, and material culture from the ancient world to the present day.

The Fine Arts Library's collection of photographic manuals traces the development of photographic technology over time.

Collections Online provides access to basic information about every object on exhibition in HAM galleries as well as many more works of art in HAM collections. Digital images are included for most objects. Additional documentation on individual works of art is available from the Harvard Art Museums.

Angus McBean's iconic portraits of actors and entertainers are among the most complete visual records of the British stage from the 1930s through the 1960s.

This research guide provides a broad, though not exhaustive, introduction to the Harvard University Archives’ vast photographic collections. With materials dating from the early 19th century to the present, these collections are comprised of photographic materials of varied formats and subject matters. Photographic prints, slides, contact sheets, and negatives document Harvard’s buildings and campus, academic activities, student life, and athletics.

Documenting the history of photographic processes and the social history of photography from the time of its invention in the 1830s through 1900.

A comprehensive repository devoted to the systematic investigation of how people of African descent have been perceived and represented in art. Founded in 1960 by Jean and Dominique de Ménil in reaction to the existence of segregation in the United States, the archive contains photographs of 26,000 works of art, each of which is extensively documented and categorized by the archive’s staff.

The Peabody Museum’s extensive photographic collection is a treasure trove of late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century photography, with more than 500,000 images from daguerreotypes to color, 35mm, and slide photography. Subjects include expeditions, indigenous peoples, and cultures spanning the globe. The photograph collection is generally considered to be one of the ten largest photographic archives documenting world cultures. The collection also includes photo documentation of the history of the Peabody Museum, its exhibitions, staff, and related archaeological expeditions and artifacts.

Start your archival research on photographs of the women's movement (1960s to 1980s) with this guide.

Start your archival research on women photographers with this guide.

The Roosevelt collection includes thousands of photographs that document Roosevelt’s public and private life, family, homes, and memorials.

With its origins in the pioneering work of Bernard and Mary Berenson, the Fototeca, or Photograph Archive, has long been celebrated as an outstanding resource for the study of the history of art. Now holding around 250,000 photographic prints and other related materials, the still-growing collection contains photographs of artworks in many media ranging from Antiquity to the middle of the 20th century, focusing on the Mediterranean basin but including other parts of the world.