The California Museum of Photography is an off-campus institution and department within the

College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences The College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) can trace its history to the founding undergraduate institution at UCR, the College of Letters and Science, which first opened in 1954. (Dur ...

at the University of California, Riverside, located in Riverside,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States. The collections of the California Museum of Photography are the most extensive photographic holdings in the Western United States. The diverse collections of the California Museum of Photography encompass a wide range of photographic arts, history, and technology.

Collections overview

The collections are categorized into four interconnected areas.

Bingham Technology Collection

The Bingham Technology Collection has expanded from its original donation of 2,000 vintage cameras by Dr. Robert Bingham in 1973 to a current count of 10,000 cameras, viewing devices, and photographic apparatus. In 1975, ''

Popular Photography ''Popular Photography'', formerly known as ''Popular Photography & Imaging'', also called ''Pop Photo'', is a monthly American consumer website and former magazine that at one time had the largest circulation of any imaging magazine, with an edit ...

'' recognized UCR's Bingham Camera Collection as the second-largest collection, trailing only the

George Eastman House The George Eastman Museum, also referred to as George Eastman House and the International Museum of Photography and Film, is a photography museum in Rochester, New York. Opened to the public in 1949, is the oldest museum dedicated to photography ...

Collection in Rochester, New York, and the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

's collection. The collection comprises four distinct subsets of camera technology: The Kibbey

Zeiss-Ikon Zeiss ( ; ) is a German manufacturer of optical systems and optoelectronics, founded in Jena, Germany, in 1846 by optician Carl Zeiss. Together with Ernst Abbe (joined 1866) and Otto Schott (joined 1884) he laid the foundation for today's mu ...

Collection, Curtis Polaroid Collection, Wodinsky Ihagee-Exakta Collection, and the Teague

Kodak Brownie The Brownie was a series of camera models made by Eastman Kodak and first released in 1900. It introduced the snapshot to the masses by addressing the cost factor which had meant that amateur photography remained beyond the means of many people ...

Collection. Notable artifacts within the collection include a Louis Daguerre camera, a

Simon Wing Simon Wing (August 29, 1826 – December 17, 1910) was a daguerreotypist, camera inventor and socialist politician. He is best remembered as the first candidate of the Socialist Labor Party of America for President of the United States, running fo ...

multi-lens

wet plate The collodion process is an early photographic process for the production of grayscale images. The collodion process – mostly synonymized with the term "''wet-plate process''", requires the photographic material to be coated, sensitized, expose ...

camera, a fully functional

Caille Bros. The Detroit-based Caille Bros. Manufacturing Company along with Chicago-based Mills Novelty Company, were one of the most successful companies in the United States coin-operated machine industry during the 19th century and early 20th century. They b ...

Cail-O-Scope, and a Ponti megalethoscope. Being an actively utilized camera collection in the Western United States, this resource holds great value for photography scholars, museums, film and video producers, book and magazine publishers, regional schools, and photography clubs.

University Print Collection

The University Print Collection was established in 1979 through the acquisition of an exceptional collection of photographic master prints from

Friends of Photography Friends of Photography was a nonprofit organization started by Ansel Adams and others in 1967 to promote photography as a fine art. During its existence the organization held at least 330 photography exhibitions at its galleries in Carmel and San ...

, made possible by several community patrons. Currently, the collection comprises over 20,000 images created by more than 1,000 photographers, including 7,000 negatives by

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...

. Within the University Print Collection, one can find a significant number of vintage

daguerreotype Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photography, photographic process, widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process. Invented by Louis Daguerre and introduced worldwid ...

s, 1840s

calotype Calotype or talbotype is an early photographic process introduced in 1841 by William Henry Fox Talbot, using paper coated with silver iodide. Paper texture effects in calotype photography limit the ability of this early process to record low ...

negatives,

ambrotype The ambrotype, also known as a collodion positive in the UK, is a positive photograph on glass made by a variant of the wet plate collodion process. As a cheaper alternative to the French daguerreotype, ambrotypes came to replace them. Like a ...

s from the Civil War era, commercial

tintype A tintype, also known as a melanotype or ferrotype, is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a thin sheet of metal, colloquially called 'tin' (though not actually tinplate, tin-coated), coated with a dark lacquer or Enamel paint, ...

s, as well as images spanning popular culture from the 1840s to the present. A notable subset of the University Print Collection is the Keystone-Mast Collection, which encompasses over 250,000 original

stereoscopic Stereoscopy, also called stereoscopics or stereo imaging, is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by means of stereopsis for binocular vision. The word ''stereoscopy'' derives . Any stereoscopic image is ...

negatives and 100,000 paper prints. These original glass and film negatives serve as invaluable primary records documenting worldwide social, cultural, industrial, and agricultural history between 1860 and 1950. Since 2001, the California Museum of Photography website has featured visual online catalogs of the Keystone-Mast Collection, which were primarily funded through a Preservation and Access Grant from the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

(NEH). The MOAC project, aimed at creating catalogs accessible through the

California Digital Library The California Digital Library (CDL) was founded by the University of California in 1997. Under the leadership of then UC President Richard C. Atkinson, the CDL's original mission was to forge a better system for scholarly information management ...

, receives additional support from the

Institute for Museum and Library Services The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) is an independent agency of the United States federal government established in 1996. It is the main source of federal support for libraries and museums within the United States, having the m ...

(IMLS). This funding helps facilitate the organization and accessibility of the collection's catalogs.

California Museum of Photography Study Center Library

The California Museum of Photography Study Center Library and Roy McJunkin Imaging Center are interconnected research spaces that house a collection of 10,000

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

monographs, manuscript materials, artist books, technical literature, exhibition catalogs, salon annuals, runs of photography periodicals, a copy stand, and a wide range of computer technology resources. These facilities serve as vital resources for international scholars, educational communities, and museum staff engaged in research activities.

Digital Virtual Collection

The Digital Virtual Collection is a comprehensive digital representation of the museum's collection. Since the museum first established an online presence in 1994, California Museum of Photography has added over 13,000 pages of content, which encompass more than 400 themed micro-sites and 9 major finding aids. Ongoing grants and initiatives have provided support for the museum to enhance its website and continue the digitization of artifacts found within its collections.

References

External links

California Museum of Photography

California Digital Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:UCR California Museum of Photography Museum of Photography Photo archives in the United States Museums in Riverside, California Photography museums and galleries in the United States Art museums and galleries in California Photographic technology museums University museums in California