The papers of New York-based painter, lithographer, art critic, and poet Fairfield Porter measure 9.3 linear feet and date from 1888 to 2001, with the bulk of material dating from 1924 to 1975. Papers document Porter's life and career through correspondence, writings, business records, printed materials, photographs, and artwork.

This finding aid was digitized with funds generously provided by the Smithsonian Institution Women's Committee.

A collection of 176 cartes de visite or photographic portraits of various American, British, and European artists active during the second half of the 19th century, assembled by an unidentified previous owner and housed in a commercially-produced blank album.The photographs originate from a number of different photography studios, including Bayard & Bertall, Bingham, Matthew Brady, Carjat & Cie., H.G. DeBurlo, Disdéri, Franck, F. Joubert, McLean & Co., Mayer & Pierson, Ernst Milster, Nadar, Pierre Petit, Ch. Reutlinger, Richards, and others.

The collection documents in photographs, scrapbooks, notebooks, correspondence, stock ledgers, annual reports, and financial records, the evolution of the telegraph, the development of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the beginning of the communications revolution. The collection materials describe both the history of the company and of the telegraph industry in general, particularly its importance to the development of the technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collection is useful for researchers interested in the development of technology, economic history, and the impact of technology on American social and cultural life.

This collection consists of approximately 2,850 black and white negatives (approximately 0.54 cubic feet) of photographs taken by James Tenety, Jr. and Peter Sarkis. The vast majority of them are by Tenety, with the images taken by Sarkis numbering approximately 50-60. The negatives are 616 size and show various aircraft, people, and aviation relat...

The collection measures 20.4 linear feet, dates from 1885 to 1991 (bulk dates 1908-1986) and documents the career of Harlem Renaissance lithographer, teacher, and painter Prentiss Taylor. The collection consists primarily of subject/correspondence files (circa 16 ft.), reflecting Prentiss' career as a lithographer and painter, his association with figures prominent in the Harlem Renaissance, notably Carl Van Vechten and Langston Hughes, his activities as president of the Society of Washington Printmakers and other art organizations, his work in art therapy treating mental illness, and his teaching position at American University. The subject files contain mostly correspondence, but many include photographs and printed material. Also included are biographical, financial, legal and printed material; several hundred photographs; notes and writings; sketchbooks, drawings and a few prints by Taylor; and scrapbooks dating from 1885-1956.

The papers of New York art dealer, critic, and author Martin Birnbaum measure 3.2 linear feet and date from 1862-1967, with the bulk of the material dating from 1920-1967. The papers document Birnbaum's association with the firm of Scott & Fowles, the lives and activities of his friends and colleagues, and his literary work, through biographical material, correspondence, writings and notes, business records, printed material, a scrapbook, scattered artwork, and photographs of Birnbaum, friends and colleagues, and artwork.

In 1990, curators at the National Museum of American History began a project to develop a traveling exhibition about American music, and in the course of research, curators repeatedly returned to the Mississippi Delta area and Memphis, Tennessee to conduct interviews. A group in Memphis organized to raise the funds to complete the research, to acquire objects and artifacts, and the project ultimately became the Smithsonian-affiliated Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum, which opened in 2000 at 191 Beale Street.

The collection consists of studio portraits and expedition photographs of anthropologists, administrators, scholars, and others. It includes some photographs of an American Indian demonstrating sign language, possibly made during W J McGee's Seriland expedition. Photographers represented in the collection are Charles Milton Bell, A. E. Dumbie; De ...

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board accession records collection includes documents and photographs related to works of art accessioned into the IACB collection from it's inception in 1935 to 1999. The collection also includes docuements related to objects accessioned into the IACB's run Southern Plains Indian Museum. The collection is nearly comprehensive and includes works of art from Alaska Native artists to Catawba pottery, and includes artwork from several renowned artists including, Maria Martinez (San Ildefonso Pueblo), James Kivetoruk Moses (Inupiaq), and Don Morse "Lelooska" Smith (Cherokee).