UMBC Special Collections inaugurated the Photography Collections in 1974 following a donation from Baltimore pictorialist photographer Edward L. Bafford of a print of Sun Rays-Paula, Berlin by the eminent American artist Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946). During the ensuing five decades, our holdings have expanded to include over 7 million photographs ranging from proto-photographic materials to glass and film negatives and contemporary prints. The Photography Collections illustrate the variety of formal, technological, and conceptual strategies employed throughout the medium’s nearly 200 year history.
Our holdings include a wide variety of formats, processes, techniques, genres, and movements of photography, which help to show the development and social impact of the medium. As a teaching collection, our photographs and photographic equipment are available for researchers, class visits, and special interest groups to view in our Reading Room.
Photography Collection Holdings
The Photography Collections offer insight into how artists across time have explored the aesthetic and expressive possibilities of the medium. We have significant holdings of prominent forces in the field, including: Ansel Adams, Berenice Abbott, Diane Arbus, Amos Badertscher, Barbara Crane, Cary Beth Cryor, Judy Dater, Larry Fink, Robert Frank, Roland Freeman, Francis Frith, Ralph Gibson, Philippe Halsman, Lotte Jacobi, Syl Labrot, David Seymour (Chim), Aaron Siskind, John Thomson, Alice Wells, Brett Weston, Minor White, Garry Winogrand, and hundreds of other artists. For a complete list of photographers represented in the collection, see the Photographers and Collections Index.
Particular strengths of our collections comprise social documentary photography, including over 5400 photographs of child labor by Lewis Hine; Civil War photographs; the mining photographs (1870-1895) of George Bretz; nineteenth-century travel photography and photograph albums; painted tintypes; American modernism; and regional photography, with many historical images of Baltimore and Maryland and photographs by Maryland-based photographers. In this regard, the photographic archive of the Baltimore Sun newspaper, which includes negatives and press prints, is especially significant. Our collections also include tens of thousands of University Photographs which document the growth of campus, student life, and faculty and staff that have contributed to UMBC since the groundbreaking in 1965.
Our archival holdings in photography provide researchers with rich resources for study of individual artists and include materials such as negatives, contact sheets, work and exhibition prints, digital image files, account and day books, and personal papers. Highlights include collections pertaining to: Baltimore Camera Club, Kerry Coppin, Robert W. Fichter, Grancel Fitz, Mildred Grossman, Hella Hammid, Lejaren Hiller, Sam Holden, Richard Jaquish, Stephen Marc, and the Mark Rice collection on the male nude. A comprehensive list of our photographic archives with links to collection finding aids can be found below.
In addition to images, our holdings of equipment and apparatus reveal the progression of the technology of the photographic medium. These materials are supplemented by the Edward L. Bafford Photographic Book Collection, which encompasses rare and historical books and periodicals, artists books, technical manuals, exhibition catalogues, and writings on the history and theory of the medium.
Search for Photographs
Search tip: On this page, Under “Content to search,” check off the box next to Photos. Then enter your search terms. You can search by collection, creator (e.g. photographer), title, subjects, format, description, location, and accession number. When searching by name, use quotes and Last name, First Name. Please use quotes for phrases. Use AND if you want both words. Ex: “Hine, Lewis”; Ex: “coal miners”; Ex: Robert AND Frank. If there is a digital version, your results will have a link to the digital image.
Photographers & Collections Index
A browsing index to the photography holdings in Special Collections with links to records and to images in the Digital Collections.
UMBC Digital Collections
UMBC Digital Collections are composed of selected materials from the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Currently, the majority of the digital collections draw upon the rich and unique holdings of the Special Collections and Archives. Items cover a broad range of topics and include photographs, the Retriever Weekly newspaper, electronic theses and dissertations from UMBC candidates, Theatre Department programs, posters, playbills, and other ephemera. See Digital Collections
University Photographs
Search tip: Use the Special Collections Search and enter University Photographs as the “Collection title” to limit your search to the University Photographs. Box level records are available through the Special Collections Search, as well as item-level records for any digitized photos. If you would only like to browse our digitized photographs, please use the Digital Collections search.
- Browse University Photographs catalog records
- A selection is available in UMBC’s Digital Collections
Edward L. Bafford Photographic Book Collection
The Bafford Collection holdings include books and serials on the history and development of photography as an aesthetic medium with a special emphasis on photography as a social force. Learn more…
Research guides
Photography Archives Collections
Collections of the personal papers of photographers held at UMBC:
Jule Eisenbud collection on Ted Serios and thoughtographic photography, Collection 23
The Eisenbud collection, originating mainly from the 1960s during the years of Eisenbud’s experimentation on renowned psychic photographer Ted Serios, provide an introduction to the psychic phenomenon ‘thoughtography’. This collection contains thousands of photographs documenting Eisenbud’s research and evidence of thoughtography.
Mildred Grossman papers, Collection 6
The papers of Mildred Grossman cover her active and dedicated life. Included within the collection are photographs, both professional and personal, correspondence between friends and clients, diaries, daybooks, financial, medical, and legal documents. The photographs in this collection include a selection related to the Hotel Trades Council’s exhibit “Portrait of a Union” and hundreds of personal photographs. Grossman’s professional photographs have been removed and are housed with UMBC’s Photography Collections.
Jaromir Stephany papers, University Archives, Collection 104
The Jaromir Stephany papers contain records relating to Stephany’s work as a photographer and educator, as well as his personal papers. Included in this collection are professional and personal correspondence, teaching materials, personal photographs, genealogical records, and files from Stephany’s exhibitions. There are also personal writings, interviews of Stephany, and audio-recordings of lectures by other photographers.
Mark Rice papers, Collection 41
Jacob Riis letter, Collection 42
Baltimore Camera Club records, Collection 46
Leonardo J. Sirios papers, Collection 101
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Glee Club collection, The Photography Collections, Collection 147