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The Austin History Center's Photograph Collection contains over one million images, ranging in date from the mid-19th century to the present. These images illustrate the changes in the people, events, and natural and built environment that Austin has seen over the past century and a half.
Word has traveled, and our photos are used by researchers, educators, authors, artists, journalists, and of course, by those who simply want to enjoy looking at an Austin scene from the past. A number of photos from the History Center's collection have been published in books or videotaped for broadcast in newscasts or documentaries. Exhibits produced by the Austin History Center and by other institutions use photos from the History Center's collection. Photographic reprints of our images are available at a very reasonable cost.
Austin File. These photographs are arranged by subject heading. Photo subjects as general as agriculture or as specific as Aqua Fest can be found in these files.
Biography File. The Austin File Biography (AF Biography) photographs contain images of citizens of Austin who have made an impact on their community and are arranged by the names of the individuals or the name of their family.
House Building File. This photograph file has images of structures located around the city, although the heaviest concentration of photos documents the central part of town. These photos are arranged by street address.
This photo collection consists of individual images and photo albums originally housed with an archival records or manuscript collection. For example, the Niles-Graham-Pease family papers included hundreds of family photos that are now housed with the photos so that special photographic preservation measures can be taken to preserve them for future generations.
The Neal Douglass Photograph Collection consists of over 50,000 photographic negatives. Douglass was the first photographer for the Austin American-Statesman. He had a arrangement with the newspaper that allowed him to run his own studio. Photographs in the collection include images of the many news events he covered from the 1930's to the 1970's as well as private work. His clients included governors, legislators, civic leaders, and people from all walks of life. Parts of this collection have been digitized and are available on the Portal to Texas History.
The Austin American-Statesman negative collection represents the film shot and developed by Statesman photographers for the newspaper during the years 1958 through 1982. These negatives are arranged chronologically and can be accessed using the photographers' log books that are available in the History Center's Reading Room.
The Austin History Center welcomes donations of photographs that document the city of Austin and Travis County. Those who wish to share their photographs but prefer to retain the original prints for their own use, can loan the original print to be copied. The History Center photography lab can make copy negatives of the original prints, produce a copy print of the image and return the original to the person loaning the image. Those people interested in loaning their original photos to be copied should contact the Austin History Center or attend one of the Austin History Center's Photo Heritage Days, conducted once a year at different sites around the city. These events bring numerous photographs into the Austin History Center's collection that would otherwise not be available for research. They also provide an opportunity for the community to become more familiar with the Austin History Center as it strives to preserve the community's collective memory.
A selection of historic photographs of Austin are available for purchase in the Reading Room of the Austin History Center.
We always welcome those who choose to come in person to the History Center to browse our photographs or to find a specific image. However, if you cannot visit the History Center but wish to order a photo, you can order that photo by mail. To order or use any of the Austin History Center's images for personal use, display, or publication, please consult our photo order page.
Because we charge for publication of Austin History Center images, we do not give permission for photos on our Web site to be downloaded for use on other Web sites. If you would like to publish any of the photos seen on this Web page, please consult our photo order forms or contact the Photo Curator at (512) 974-7386 or e-mail daniel.alonzo@ci.austin.tx.us for more information about use fees and permissions.
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Tornado - May 4, 1922. PICA 00406. |
Ebenezer Baptist Church. PICA 08288. |
Ben Hur Steamboat. PICA 13016. |
City Council, 1910-1919.
PICA 00126. |
Colorado River Flood, 1935. C08484-A. |
Unidentified photographers. C09772. |
Travis County Courthouse,
bf. 1930. PICA 25216. |
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