The Frank and Frances Carpenter collection consists of approximately:

• 5,400 photographic prints in 29 albums
• 10,400 photographic prints not in albums
• 5,000 nitrate film negatives
• 2,000 glass plate negatives

The degree of overlap between the prints in the albums to those not in the albums has not been analyzed. The albums contain many contact prints from negatives in the collection, but some album images have no corresponding original negative. The prints not in albums also include some images printed from original negatives.

Photographic Prints in Albums

Frank and Frances Carpenter compiled the albums, generally grouping images along regional lines. The Prints and Photographs Division staff assigned LOT (group) numbers to the albums and prepared a group-level description for each LOT. In the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, each LOT description includes a link to check for any individual images cataloged online, many of which are accompanied by digital images.

Within the albums, English captions accompany most images, but dates are not consistently indicated. The Carpenters may have taken many of the images, especially those made 1910-1924, but the albums also include images that they collected, and the origin of such images is not always noted.

Retrieve catalog records for albums

Photographic Prints Not in Albums

Prints and Photographs Division staff organized the loose prints into groups (LOTS) on the basis of their subject matter (generally by country or region represented). In the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog, each LOT description includes a link to check for any individual images cataloged online, many of which are accompanied by digital images.

Retrieve catalog records for groups not in albums

Negatives

Most of the images appearing online are ones for which copy photos have been produced, generally because P&P staff have not found a corresponding original negative in the collection that can be used to produce copies. Images with copy photos generally have reproduction numbers beginning, LC-USZ...

Preservation considerations prevent public users from directly handling the negatives, which are kept in cold storage. The original negatives have generally been matched to corresponding prints, primarily in the albums.

Format and size information for the original negatives can be helpful in planning photoduplication requests (see the Photoduplication Service's price list) and serves as an indication of the type of equipment used to make an image. If a photographic print in the collection bears a reproduction number beginning with one of the series codes below, there is an original negative in the format indicated in the righthand column.