Last Updated on 04/29/2014 by Felix Esser
After maintaining its historic photography collection for over 145 years, the American Museum of Natural History has digitized over 7,000 of its rare, archival images. The extensive digital collection is largely the museum’s own personal collection of images including the creation and installation of exhibits, as well as a behind the scenes look at scientific expeditions dating back to the 19th century.
Along with the archival photographs, the collection contains many never before seen book illustrations, drawings, notes, letters, and art. The memorabilia documents the museum’s preservation efforts in New York and around the globe. “The project is ongoing,” said Tom Baione, the Director of the American Museum of Natural History, “with images added every week thanks to the Museum’s library professionals who are working with teams of interns and volunteers to scan these historic noteworthy collections in the new image database.”
The museum says it still has plenty of collections to add, including the Julian Dimock 3,400 image collection documenting the lives African Americans in South Carolina and Alabama, new immigrants arriving to Ellis Island, and the Seminole Indians of Florida at the turn of the last century. Meanwhile, the Lumholtz Collection records Carl S. Lumholtz’s four expeditions into northwestern Mexico circa 1890 to 1898. There’s even more collections coming and you can check them all out in the Digital Special Collections.
Check past the break for a few more previews of the museum’s digital collection.
Via DIY Photography