Image Collections: Slides and Photographs

Search the Image Collection

The Department of Image Collections is the study and research center for images of Western art and architecture at the National Gallery of Art. It was formed in 2004 with the merger of two visual resources departments. The slide collection, begun in 1941, and the photograph collection, founded in 1943, combined now number almost ten million photographs, slides, negatives, and microform images, making it one of the largest resources of its kind. The Department of Image Collections serves the Gallery's staff, members of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, visiting scholars, and serious adult researchers.

Hours
The Department of Image Collections is open to the public by appointment from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and noon to 4:30 p.m. on Monday except on federal holidays.

Further Information
Image Collections National Gallery of Art Washington, DC 20565 Telephone: (202) 842-6026 Fax: (202) 789-3068 E-mail Us		Mailing Address: Image Collections National Gallery of Art 2000B South Club Drive Landover, MD 20785

Copyright Information and Notes to Researchers

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Slide Collection

The National Gallery of Art maintains a color slide collection of more than 45,000 images of works of art owned by the Gallery. These slides are loaned free of charge within the United States. Typical users of this collection are college professors and independent scholars who use individual images for lectures or presentations. The slide library catalog contains combined records for both the lending collection and the collection restricted for staff use.

Up to 50 slides may be borrowed at one time through the national interlibrary loan system and may be kept for a period of two weeks. Please contact your public, school, or institutional library for information on using the national interlibrary loan system. Washington, D.C. metropolitan area users may make an appointment to use the collection in person by calling (202) 842-6099. Because the slides are bound in glass, metal, or plastic frames, they may not fit all projectors. Please discuss your needs with a National Gallery of Art slide librarian.

Slide Sets
Slide sets (many with an audio tape), videocassettes, and DVDs, and teaching packets may be borrowed from the Department of Education Resources. These slide sets and teaching programs are loaned free of charge to educational institutions, community groups, and to individuals throughout the United States. Individual slides of Gallery objects to be used for teaching may also be purchased through the Office of Visual Services or through Davis Art Slides, 50 Portland Street, Worcester, MA 01608, telephone (800) 533-2847.

Public Lending Guide
For more information about slide borrowing, read the Public Lending Guide (PDF 48k).

To receive a copy of this guide by mail, fill out our request form.

Manual for Classifying and Cataloging Slides (version 4.0)
(updated August 16, 2002)

The National Gallery of Art slide classification system and guide to cataloging practice is now available as an electronic document. The online manual includes specialized sections for describing Western and non-Western art and architecture as well as core chapters on slide labeling and MARC cataloguing basics. The conversion of the Slide Library Manual into an interactive and searchable document is an ongoing project. Revisions and additional chapters will be added in the near future.

Download Slide Library Manual (PDF 1.2MB)

To access PDF documents you must download Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free of charge at http://www.adobe.com.

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Photograph Collection

The Photograph Collection is a study and research collection of images documenting European and American art and architecture that now contains more than 9,600,000 black-and-white photographs, negatives, and microform images of all aspects of Western art. For more information on the photograph holdings see the following:

Core Collections

including Alinari, IADPC, Kress Collection,
and Munich Central Collecting Point

Collections from Scholars

including Kress Subvention Grants

Featured Photographers
and Photo Campaign Organizers

including Brumfield, Lieberman, Reali, and Rigamonti

Dealers' Archives

including Parke Bernet and Waterman

Rare Collections

Albums and Nineteenth-century photographs

including International Expositions and Salons

Photographs of Artists

Reproductive Prints

History of the Photographic Archives

Research in the Collection

Special Features:

Revelations from Reproductions: Fifteenth-century Italian Paintings

International Expositions