Theodor Horydczak Collection

Photographs of the Washington, D.C., area, 1920s-1950s

Prints and Photographs Division

Theodor Horydczak worked as a professional photographer in Washington, D.C., from 1923 to 1959 and became a specialist in architectual and scenic views. In addition to his commercial assignments, Horydczak took less formal photographs showing local neighborhoods, construction work, and scenes of daily life. Horydczak's studio files, presented to the Library in 1973 by the photographer's daughter and son-in-law, Norma and Francis Reeves, record the life and growth of Washington over a forty-year period. The files contain 14,000 black-and-white negatives, 1,500 color transparencies, and 16,300 photoprints. To date, 400 sample prints from the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s have been filed by subject. Horydczak's logbook provides copyright information and has been microfilmed.

Brannan, Beverly W., "Discovering Theodor Horydczak's Washington," Library of Congress Quarterly Journal, v. 36, winter 1979: 38-67; reprinted in A Century of Photographs, 1846-1946, Selected from the Collections of the Library of Congress, compiled by Renata V. Shaw.

Note: Information for this entry was compiled in the late 1970's for inclusion in: Special Collections in the Library of Congress: A Selective Guide. Compiled by Annette Melville. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1980. The entry has not been revised, except to include information about digitized images and online catalog records.

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