The archive documents the work of Beaumont and Nancy Newhall, two key figures in the history of photography, through correspondence, extensive research files, published and unpublished writings, and photographs, slides and audiotapes. Beaumont Newhall's papers (136 lin. ft.) date from ca. 1843-1993, Nancy Newhall's papers (14 lin. ft.) date from ca. 1920-1989.

Beaumont Newhall is perhaps the first champion of the study of photography as art, and of its history. He was born in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1908 and graduated from Harvard University in 1932. After an internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Newhall became the Librarian at the Museum of Modern Art. In 1937, at the request of Director Alfred Barr, Newhall organized the museum's first exhibition of photographs. His History of Photography, published for the exhibition, introduced formal criteria for judging photography as a fine art. Revised five times and translated into several languages, it remains a widely read textbook on the history of photography.

150 Linear Feet (268 boxes, 3 flat file folders)

Contact Library Rights and Reproductions.

Open for use by qualified researchers, except the audiotapes that have not yet been reformatted.