Scope of Harvard Salt Print Collections

Architectural, landscape, and documentary views of the United States, Great Britain, Europe, and the Middle East reside at the Fine Arts Library, Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Map Collection, and Houghton Library. Diverse styles of portraiture are represented in images of Native American delegations in Washington at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology; early class portraits at the Harvard University Archives; and professional portraits of botanists, doctors, natural historians, lawyers, and performers at the Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Gray Herbarium Library, Harvard Law School Library, and Harvard Theatre Collection. At the Fine Arts Library, scholars can find stunning examples of individual portraits, group photographs, as well as fine examples of photo montage, and hand-applied art work including hand-coloring and retouching from well-known nineteenth-century studios.

The Evert Jansen Wendell collection of portraiture at The Fine Arts Library has a treasure trove of 801 salt paper prints! In this presentation Joanne Bloom, the Photographic Resources Librarian at the Fine Arts Library, discusses the fascinating history of the acquisition of that collection and the impact of the Salt Print Initiative on the collection. Amanda Maloney, Special Collections Conservator at the Weissman Preservation Center will also present a virtual viewing of examples from the collection that highlight some of the possible variations and characteristics of these photographs.