The Photography Collection was created in 1980 when images culled from other NYPL departments and branches were brought together to form a new division that now comprises approximately 500,000 photographs by 6,000 photographers, among them Czeslaw Czaplinski (Polish, born 1953); A. E. Iordanov (Bulgarian, active 1880s), Bohumil Straka (Czech, born 1919), Sergei Skliarov (Russian, born 1955), Josef Sudek (Czech, 1896-1976), Adomas Varnas (Lithuanian, 1879-1979), Walery (Polish, 1835-1890), aka Stanisław Julian Ostroróg, and many others.
While are working to integrate the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog into the Library's main Research Catalog please contact the Photography Collection directly about its holdings, photography@nypl.org. In addition, Russian and Soviet photo albums have been analyzed in checklists and articles listed below. The Russian pre-revolutionary photo albums, most of which have been digitized, are especially significant in the following areas: the history of the Romanov family; the history of photography; the history of art and architecture; the history of the provinces; and Russian-American relations. The post-revolutionary collections (also largely digitized) are less ornate than the pre-revolutionary albums, in that much of the material includes photojournalistic images, family photographs, and tourist snapshots.
Various non-East European photographers contributed photographs depicting the region and its inhabitants, for example.
- In the 1960s, Kay Simmon Blumberg (American, 1909-2004) photographed many places in "East Europe".
- The Library holds numerous views of [Budapest, Hungary] and other places of the Hungarian-controlled part of the Austro-Hungarian empire from the early 20th century (by an unknown photographer or photographers) and from the later period by George Adams (American, active 1930s-1950s).
- Lewis Wickes Hine (1874-1940) contributed numerous photographs of Slavic and East European immigrants (some of them have been digitized).
- Mabel Thérèse Bonney (American, 1894-1978) was best known for her images taken during World War II on the Soviet-Finnish front. A large collection of her photographs is held by the Photography Collection. It also includes photographs of various places in Eastern Europe.
- Alvin Langdon Coburn (British, 1882-1966) created a photogravure of Ivan Meštrovic (1883-1962), a Croatian sculptor, architect, and writer.
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For more information about the NYPL's Slavic and East European Photographica see the following checklists and articles
- Visual Resources from Russia and Eastern Europe in the New York Public Library: A Checklist, by Hee Gwone Yoo and Kristen A. Regina Introduction by Kristen A. Regina, preface by John E. Bowlt. The New York Public Library Slavic, Baltic, and Eurasian Resource Series. New York: Ross Publishing, 2008.
- Goldsmith, Benjamin E., and Danielle Matusic. A Guide to Russian Illustrated Books and Photographic Albums in the Slavic and Baltic Division, The New York Public Library. Master List: DOE Title II-C Russian Illustrated Books and Photographs Project, 1990-1991 [New York: Slavic and Baltic Division, 1992].
- Goldsmith, Benjamin E., comp. The Photographic Collections of the Slavic; Baltic Division, The New York Public Library: A Preliminary Guide. [New York: Slavic and Baltic Division, 1992].
- Goldsmith, Benjamin E. "Notable Russian and Soviet Illustrated Books and Photographs at the New York Public Library: A Selective List of Materials Preserved with Funds from the Department of Education's Title II-C Program," Visual Resources 9, no. 1 (1993): 1-28.
- Davis, Robert H. Jr., and Edward Kasinec. "The Russian Illustrated Book, and Photographic Collections of the Slavic and Baltic Division, The New York Public Library: A Preservation Project Funded by the Department of Education," Visual Resources 7 (1990): 31-41.
- Kasinec, Edward and Benjamin E. Goldsmith. "The Russian Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich and the Holy Land," Modern Greek Studies Yearbook 7 (1991): 463-472. [Describes and reproduces images from an album of original photographs held by the Slavic and Baltic Division, documenting the Grand Duke's trip to the Holy Land in 1880-1881]
- Smith-Peter, Susan and Hee-Gwone Yoo, “Pre-Revolutionary Russian Photography at the New York Public Library: An Introduction.” Slavic & East European Information Resources 19, no. 3-4 (2018): 263-368. [Included is the checklist of holdings]
- Werneke, Jessica, and Hee-Gwone Yoo, “Soviet Photography in America: An Introduction to the New York Public Library’s Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary Slavic, East European, and Baltic Collection.” Slavic & East European Information Resources 19, no. 3-4 (2018): 369-421. [Included is the checklist of holdings]
- Yoo, Hee-Gwone. "Holdings of Rare Photographs and Plate Books at the Slavic & Baltic Division of the New York Public Library." Russian Studies (Seoul) 12, no. 1 (2002): 323-330.
- Yoo, Hee-Gwone, “Pre-Revolutionary Illustrated Publications and Photographs on Russian Military Uniforms, Weapons, and Armors at the New York Public Library and the Hoover Library and Archives: A Checklist.” Slavic & East European Information Resources 20, no-3-4 (2020): 227-257.
- Yoo, Hee-Gwone. Russian and East European Photographic Albums: A Preliminary Analytical Checklist. [New York: The Library, 2002].
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