The Art Institute of Chicago and The Library of Virginia

Art Institute of Chicago Collection

The Art Institute of Chicago's photography collection contains works from all sorts of photographers.  The collection began in 1949 with the donation of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection and has contented to received donations from modern photographers.  These donations have helped to make the Art Institute of Chicago continue to have a strong photography department.

The home page of the collection is quite simple and easy to navigate.  It gives you a brief history along with links to collection updates and exhibitions on display at the Institute.  Viewers are also allowed to do a quick search or advanced search for a photograph along with viewing all online works and featured works.  When you select featured works, you get a glimpse of what is on display in the Institute.  Out of the forty-eight photographs that are featured works, forty-six are on display.

The setup of the all online works is a bit mind boggling at first.  When you select the online works link, you are immediately shown a display record of the first ten photographs out of over 9000.  The only way you are able refine your search into fewer selections is by artist.  If you know what artists you are looking for such as Julia Margaret Cameron, then you're in luck.  Otherwise, it will be a lot better to use the search online collections feature then this one.  This section is similar to an online library catalog, easy and simple to understand.  You can search by 'keyword', 'artist or culture', 'title' or 'accession number'.

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In the keyword section, I searched 'town' and many photograph records showed up.  Most had 'town' in their titles and were photographs of towns, but a few had people in photographs which was a bit confusing because it had nothing to do with this keyword.  The photography above was taken by Edward Steichen of the Town of Vaux during World War I.  

Information is also given on what type of photo it is, who donated the collection, the year when the photo was taken, and the accession number.  It also lets you view other works by creator as well which is great if you really like this photograph above and what to see what else the collection has on this photographer.  This collection does not have related topics or geographic names included in its description making the records not as detailed as possible.  The downfall to viewing these photographs in this collection is they are quite small and you cannot zoom in to get a better view of them.  It would be great if the Art Institute of Chicago included a zoom option.  

The Library of Virginia Collection

The online photography collection at the Library of Virginia houses over 240,000 prints, photographs, postcards, posters and ephemera and has digitized parts of their own collections along with collections at public libraries across Virginia.  This is great of the library to provide this opportunity for digitization of their collections to other libraries across the state.  The new digital collections are searched in DigiTool while the older collections are managed in their online catalog.  These collections can be searched by keyword, creator, or title.

By selecting the Print, Photograph & Original Art Collections, I search for photos having to do with 'fishing'. There is also a listing of collections by creator and subject as well if you know you want to look at the Harry C. Mann Photograph Collection. Eighty-five records are displayed with most photos having to do with fishing, have the word 'fishing' in the title, or have photos of the ocean, boats, or beaches.  The first photo display result is titled 'A fisherman's lunch' which has nothing to do with fishing except that the man is a fisherman.  The description of the photograph is quite detailed compared to the ones in the Art Institute of Chicago collection.

 

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You get a great deal of information along with a zoom option to view the photograph better.  Included is the call number, the title, a description of the photograph, notes, subject, locations of the originals, and much more.  By having detailed information on these photos helps researchers to find what they are looking for quickly and easily.  It also allows them to view photos related to what they have already searched for.