DAY 302

HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Photography Museums

TWO REMARKABLE REPOSITORIES

Widely considered one of the finest collections of photography in the country, The Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, holds both a wealth of historical images and also features the work of top contemporary photographers. In 2006, the museum acquired one of the world’s finest private collections of photographs, the Hallmark Collection—from Hallmark Cards chairman Donald J. Hall, Sr.—and in so doing, grew its own collection from just over a thousand pieces to more than 7,000.

The museum’s collection always slanted toward the work of American artists, and now, as a result of the Hallmark acquisition, has pieces going back as far as 1839 with an extensive collection of early daguerreotypes.

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City first started to collect photographs in 1930 and, in 1940, set up its photography department. Photographer Edward Steichen was the initial curator of the museum’s world-renowned collection of fine art photography.

The Museum owns 25,000 works and is considered one of the most important collections of modern and contemporary photography in the world. Over the years, MoMA has presented major exhibitions of work by nearly every prominent figure in the field as well as a number of group shows dedicated to a particular subject or style. Notably, MoMA includes not only the work of major artists in the field but that of amateurs, scientists, and journalists. —DJG