Cixi (慈禧太后), Empress Dowager of China, 1835-1908, Photographs. Forty-four glass plate negatives depicting the Empress Dowager of China, Cixi of the Qing dynasty, taken between 1903 to 1905 by the photographer Xunling (勋龄; ca.1880-1943). Scenes include the empress dowager on the imperial barge, in the Summer Palace (颐和园) with attendants, and individ...

An associate curator and associate in archaeology at the Freer Gallery of Art from 1922 to 1942, the collection of Carl Whiting Bishop (1881-1942) document his Gallery-sponsored travels to China from 1923 to 1934 and include an unpublished manuscript describing his archaeological research in China; line drawings; rubbings; maps; note cards; and nearly 4,000 glass and film negatives with corresponding original silver prints. These document his expeditions in northern and central China, illustrating archaeological sites in Henan, Shanxi, and Hebei provinces. Specific digs include the large neolithic site at Wanquan, Shanxi, and sixth century C.E. tombs near Fenyin. Additional images show Chinese cityscapes, daily life and customs, topography, temples, pagodas, caves, and sculpture.

Series 1 is comprised of photos taken by Dr. Henry Drewal while traveling in Morocco from May 29, 1997 to June 21, 1997. The series includes images taken in Casablanca, Rabat, Salé, Fès al Bali, Meknès, Sijilmassa, Rissani, Marrakech, and Essaouira. Subjects include architecture, market scenes, craftsmen and artisans at work, musicians, landscapes ...

Collection dates from 1966 to 1976 and includes 1,817 black and white negatives, 1,519 35mm color slides, several hundred prints, and manuscript materials. Locations include Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Israel, Mali, and Niger and depict agriculture, architecture, especially mosques, landscapes, marketplaces, masquerade and musical performances, sculptures, and textiles. Peoples depicted include the Bambara, Bella, Bozo, Dogon, Fulani, Gao, Mandingo, San, Songhai, and Tuarag peoples.

The records of the Susanne Hilberry Gallery measure 5.8 linear feet and 10.1 gigabytes, and date from 1964-2017, with the bulk of the material dating from 1976-2016. Gallery artists include Richard Artschwager, Lynda Benglis, Jun Kaneko, Ellen Phelan, Italo Scanga, Joel Shapiro, Alex Katz, Judy Pfaff, Warren MacKenzie, and Nancy Mitchnick, among many others. The collection consists largely of files grouped by artist containing correspondence, sales records, and exhibition records documenting the activities of the gallery including outside or traveling exhibitions and other initiatives. Also included are significant amounts of visual materials (photographs, slides, transparencies, and digital images) documenting gallery exhibitions and the oeuvres of the gallery artists, as well as digital video recordings in the form of video works, recordings of artist talks, and artwork documentation.

The modern and contemporary art gallery records of the Susan Conway Gallery in Washington, D.C. measure 23.9 linear feet and 0.001 GB and date from circa 1928, circa 1940s-2003, with the bulk of the material dating from 1987-2003. Nearly half of the collection documents the gallery's work as the sole representative of artist and political cartoonist Pat Oliphant through administrative records, exhibition files, press clippings, and a handful of photographs. Also found in the collection are artists' files of other artists represented by the gallery, client files, administrative records, printed and digital materials, and the records of the Susan Conway Conservation Studio.

The Pères Blancs (White Fathers) Society Photographic Album documents the group's missions and the Africans living near them in the East African kingdoms of Rwanda and Burundi (now the state of Rwanda-Burundi). Subjects include individual and group portraits of Africans, including members of the Tutsi royal family and the Tutsi elite, Christian families of Hutu origin, missionaries and Western visitors, and Twa people on an elephant hunt. There are also photos of landscapes, African villages and mission buildings, activities, including dancing and farming.

Photographs by Wyatt MacGaffey, a prominent anthropologist with a lifelong scholarly interest in the Congo, taken during a survey on Belgian colonial architecture for a research project in Kisangani (formerly Stanleyville) in 1980. His images of the often dilapidated buildings range from colonial mansions to views of African housing. Other photographs show small private homes and businesses as well as a mosque under construction by the Saudis and several churches. There are also many street scenes, images of the university and the Congo River. A series of five slides shows popular paintings (such as La Colonie Belge). The value of his images is enhanced by his notes, which record subjects and locations.

This collection consists of 754 pen-and-ink, watercolor, and gouache drawings and paintings by artist Lily Spandorf. They depict scenes from various years of the Festival of American Folklife and its successor, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

The Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife, held annually since 1967 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was renamed the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 1998. The materials collected here document the planning, production, and execution of the annual Festival, produced by the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage (1999-present) and its predecessor offices (1967-1999). An overview of the entire Festival records group is available here: Smithsonian Folklife Festival records.