Image Collections: Slides and Photographs

Search Image Collections

The department of image collections is a study and research center for images of Western art and architecture at the National Gallery of Art. It was formed in 2004 when two visual resources departments merged: the slide collection, begun in 1941, and the photograph collection, founded in 1943. Now combined, this resource is one of the largest of its kind, numbering almost 13 million photographs, slides, negatives, and microform images. The department of image collections serves the Gallery's staff, members of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, visiting scholars, and serious adult researchers.

Hours
The department of image collections is open to the public (except on federal holidays) by appointment from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday through Friday, and from noon to 4:30 p.m. on Monday.

Further Information
Image Collections National Gallery of Art Washington, DC 20565 Telephone: (202) 842-6026 Fax: (202) 789-3068 E-mail Us		Mailing Address Image Collections National Gallery of Art 2000B South Club Drive Landover, MD 20785

Copyright Information and Notes to Researchers

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Slide Collection

The National Gallery of Art maintains a color slide collection of more than 225,000 works of art. The slide library catalog contains records for the collection and is restricted to staff use.

Manual for Classifying and Cataloging Slides (version 4.0)
(updated August 16, 2002)

The National Gallery of Art slide classification system and guide to cataloging practice is now available as an electronic document. The online manual includes specialized sections for describing Western and non-Western art and architecture as well as core chapters on slide labeling and MARC cataloguing basics. The conversion of the Slide Library Manual into an interactive and searchable document is an ongoing project. Revisions and additional chapters will be added in the near future.

Download Slide Library Manual (PDF 1.2MB)

To access PDF documents you must download Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free of charge at http://www.adobe.com.

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Photograph Collection

The photograph collection is a study and research collection documenting European and American art and architecture that now contains more than 9,600,000 black-and-white photographs, negatives, and microform images of all aspects of Western art. For more information on these images see the following:

Core Collections

including Alinari, IADPC, Kress Collection,
and Munich Central Collecting Point

Collections from Scholars

including Kress Subvention Grants

Featured Photographers
and Photograph Campaign Organizers

including Brumfield, Lieberman, Reali, and Rigamonti

Dealers' Archives

including Parke Bernet and Waterman

Rare Collections

Albums and Nineteenth-Century Photographs

including International Expositions and Salons

Photographs of Artists

Reproductive Prints

History of the Photographic Archives

Research in the Collection

Special Features:

Revelations from Reproductions: Fifteenth-Century Italian Paintings

International Expositions