The Photograph Collection consists of over 500,000 black-and-white prints and negatives, color transparencies, slides, and over 20,000 lantern slides that were once used for lectures and loaned to New York City schools. In addition, the collection includes over 900 collections of vintage photographic prints. The images relate to the fields of anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, geology, paleontology, and zoology. The collection also documents the history and architecture of the Museum, Museum staff at work, scientists in the field, and permanent and temporary exhibitions. It includes images of objects and specimens from the Museum collections and illustrations from the Library's rare books. The earliest negatives date from the late 1800's.

Conducting Research

To research images, please consult the Special Collections Department's access polices.

The Special Collections Department is developing a Digital Resource Management System (DRMS) to organize and present information and images from the photographic collection on the web. Once complete, this resource will reduce the amount of time it takes for us to answer your questions and fill orders.

Please visit the links below for more information about a particular collection:

• Black & White and Color Photographic Image Database (forthcoming)
• Lantern Slides (forthcoming)
• List of Photographic Print Collections
• Color Slide List

Purchasing and Licensing Images

Most images from the Photo Collection can be purchased for reference, research, and educational use, in digital, print, slide, or photocopy formats. For an additional fee images can be licensed for use in publications, films, broadcasts, websites, or other forms of reproduction. For more information see Fees for Obtaining Images and Fees for Licensing Images. To license any image, an Application for Permission to License Images (PDF) must be completed and submitted. This application form may also be obtained from the Special Collections Department (telephone: 212-769-5420; fax: 212-769-5009; e-mail: speccol@amnh.org). Images may not be published, displayed, or transmitted in any way without permission from the Special Collections Department.

Please note that images published on the American Museum of Natural History's web site that do not originate from the Special Collections Department are not available to be licensed for use in publications, web sites, or any other media.