From September through April every year the Department of Photographs expands from a team of 6 to 26. We are lucky to be the second year hosts to the Master of Arts in Photographic Preservation and Collections Management program. The MA is a joint program with Ryerson  University; the students spend their first year in Toronto and their second year here at Eastman House. Having 20 students around certainly livens things up and they do a tremendous amount work cataloging and researching the collection. Jennifer McInturff, one of the 2009 graduates, did her thesis project on a GEH collection of celluloid medallions and buttons that I am showing a small selection of here. The collection is going to be our next set on the Flickr Commons so this is a sneak peak!  

Unidentified Photographer, Woman in flapper dress, gelatin silver print (POP) with applied color, mounted on celluloid medallion with easel back, ca. 1925.

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George Eastman House is known for its rich and diverse photography collection, but often it is only the “greatest hits” that get seen by the general public.  One of the perks of working at Eastman House is getting to see photographs that might never make it into the Best of exhibitions.  I want to share some of these treasures here.

The Photography Collection holds  approximately    200 works by Alfred Stieglitz; a collection that is much requested for loan,  exhibition and research.  Within this mix of iconic photographs of George O’Keeffe’s hands and images of Lake George is a small collection of lantern slides that Stieglitz made to illustrate lectures.

Alfred Stieglitz (American, 1864-1949), A Venetian Well, 1894, Lantern Slide. © George Eastman House

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I’ve been showing a lot of photographs of our gardens because they are so glorious right now, but I thought a change of pace might be fun.  

So this is what’s been happening underneath the House and Gardens.  These pics show our new chiller and HVAC system that work to keep our archives at the right  temperature  and humidity—important for the preservation of the valuable photographs and films in the GEH collections.

This thing keeps our vaults at just the right temperature

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We are having the most beautiful May!  It has been cool and crisp and the flowers are loving it.  Here are some photographs of the Eastman House gardens taken last Friday by Barbara Galasso, Museum Photographer.

The Wisteria in the Terrace Garden is in bloom!

In honor of the Lilac Festival our Lilacs are in spectacular bloom