George
Grantham Bain Collection
News photographs of New York City, early twentieth century
Collection digitized? Yes,
in large part. A large portion
of the glass negatives
and a smaller portion of photographic
prints for which copy negatives
exist
are
currently
available online via the Prints & Photographs
Online Catalog (PPOC). Selected
images are included here
to give a sample of the collection.
In 1948 the Library of Congress
purchased the photographic files
of one of America's earliest
news picture agencies, the Bain
News Service. George Grantham
Bain (1865-1944), formerly affiliated
with the United Press, founded
his New York photo agency in
1898. The news service specialized
in New York City news and covered,
to a lesser degree, events in
the eastern United States. It
distributed its own pictures
and those purchased from other
commercial agencies to about
one hundred newspapers. The
collection was purchased from
D. J. Culver of New York, who
retained some material at the
time of purchase.
The Bain picture files richly
document local sports events,
theater, celebrities, crime,
strikes, disasters, political
activities including the woman
suffrage campaign, conventions
and public celebrations. The
extensive news coverage provided
by the Bain News Service is
suggested by the approximately
40,000 glass plate negatives
and 50,000 photographic prints
in the collection. The bulk
of the collection dates from
the 1910s to the mid-1920's,
but scattered images can be
found as early as the 1890's
and as late as the 1930's.
For the most part, portraits
and printed biographical information
collected by the news service
have been integrated with the
division's central Biographical
file. The remaining photographic
prints are grouped by subject
and recorded in the Prints & Photographs
Divisional card catalog. A large
portion of the glass negatives
and a smaller portion photographic
prints for
which
copy negatives exist are currently
available online via the Prints & Photographs
Online Catalog (PPOC).
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 was last revised in
2005.
References:
Emma H. Little, "The Father
of News Photography, George
Grantham Bain," in Picturescope (Z692.P5P5),
v. 20, Autumn 1972, p. 125-132.
U.S. Library of Congress.
Reference Department. Guide
to the Special Collections of
Prints & Photographs in the
Library of Congress (Washington:
1955. NE53.W3A52), compiled
by Paul Vanderbilt, no. 43. |