Library of Congress Acquires Historic Photography Collection from Pittsburgh

Library of Congress Acquires Historic Photography Collection from Pittsburgh

The Library of Congress has acquired a historic assortment of beginner photographic prints from the Photographic Section of the Academy of Science and Art of Pittsburgh, one of many nation’s oldest constantly working images golf equipment.

The assortment consists of roughly 700 prints that have been exhibited within the group’s salons held yearly from 1914 by 1980, together with a full run of salon catalogs. While many works are by Pittsburgh-based photographers, the gathering consists of nationally and internationally acknowledged figures reminiscent of Hiromu Kira, Harry Okay. Shigeta, William Mortensen, A. Aubrey Bodine, José Ortiz Echagüe, Rudolf Koppitz and Leonard Missone. Many of those photographers usually are not at the moment represented within the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division.

Of be aware are 181 prints by Charles Okay. Archer, former part president from 1927 to 1939, most created utilizing the labor-intensive bromoil course of, an expressive picture approach that enables artists to control the pigment utility and emphasize the aesthetic and emotional qualities of a print. Currently, the Prints and Photographs Division holds solely two examples of bromoil prints.

This present expands the Library’s already robust holdings in pictorialist and beginner images from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and fills a vital hole in supplies from the post-Nineteen Thirties salon motion, a interval largely absent from museum and library collections. In documenting stylistic shifts in beginner observe over practically seven a long time, in addition to the trade of photographic concepts amongst golf equipment nationally and overseas, the gathering presents vital alternatives for brand spanking new analysis.

“Our historical image collection is a cornerstone of our legacy and our mission to celebrate amateur photography. Many images were created by members who helped found and shape the Photographic Society of America, capturing both artistic expression and moments in history,” stated Frederick Doerfler, president of The Photographic Section of the Academy of Science and Art of Pittsburgh. “By entrusting the collection to the Library of Congress, we ensure this visual heritage is preserved and accessible to inspire photographers, historians and the public for generations to come.”

Before coming to the Library, picks from the gathering have been included in exhibitions on the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Carnegie Museum of Art.

Founded in 1885 because the Amateur Photographers’ Society of Pittsburgh, the group grew to become a part of the Academy in 1890 and adopted the identify Photographic Section in 1900. Its long-running salon exhibitions have been a serious drive in advancing images as a high quality artwork, with the Pittsburgh Salon of Photographic Art described in 1919 by Camera Craft as “the premier annual photographic exhibition of the Western world.”

The Library of Congress is the world’s largest library, providing entry to the inventive document of the United States — and in depth supplies from around the globe — each on-site and on-line. It is the primary analysis arm of the U.S. Congress and the house of the U.S. Copyright Office. Explore collections, reference companies, and different packages and plan a go to at loc.gov; entry the official web site for U.S. federal legislative data at congress.gov; and register inventive works of authorship at copyright.gov.

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Media Contact: Maria Peña, mpena@loc.gov

PR 25-066

09/29/2025

ISSN 0731-3527