Finding Original Photographs

The primary means of searching the Photography Collection is by photographer’s name. Click here to view a list of over 6,300 photographers whose work is represented in the collection. [Updated January, 2012]

Many of the Photography Collection's images are available online via the NYPL Digital Gallery. These images also can be searched by place, subject and genre.

Some of the larger collections of photographs as well as works by selective photographers have been cataloged by subject, photographic process, and time period, and are found in the on-line catalog. Other collections are accessible via albums of reproductions that can be viewed in the Prints and Photographs Study Room (Room 308). Researching photographs can be facilitated by consultation with the staff of the Photography Collection (phgref@nypl.org).

Prior to the creation of the Photography Collection in 1980, original photographs were acquired primarily in book or album form; occasionally, individual photographs were selected based on subject matter for existing collections. Many of these photographs remain in the originating collections, including the George Arents Collection, the Division of U.S. History, Local History, and Genealogy, and the Manuscripts and Archives Division. Other photograph collections are found at The Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture and The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.