American National Red Cross Collection
Prints and Photographs
Division
Collection digitized? A large portion of the collection is digitized. [View the images in the Prints & Photographs Online Catalog]
Overview of the Collection
The American National Red Cross Collection consists of approximately fifty thousand photographs and their negatives, acquired from the American National Red Cross (A.N.R.C.- also known as the American Red Cross, or A.R.C., which later became its official name). The photos date from the beginning of the twentieth century to 1933, offering pictorial documentation of human endurance in war and in times of national disaster and a visual record of the accomplishments of the American Red Cross in giving relief to peoples all over the world.
Norman H. Davis, the late President of the
American Red Cross, believed that this collection belonged to the American people.
With this thought he made arrangements for
its transfer to the Library of Congress, where
it could be properly housed, exhibited, and
made available to the public.
The collection arrived in 1944 and 1952.
The
greater
part
of
the
collection
relates
to World
War
I
and
to
the
reconstruction
in
Europe
in
the
early
1920s.
Fifty-seven
days after
the
declaration
of
war
by
the
United
States
against
Germany,
the
advance
guard
of
the
A.R.C.
sailed
out
of
New
York
harbor.
On
this
first
ship
went
Paul
Ramey,
a
photographer
who
had
earlier taken
motion
pictures
of
wild
animals
in
Africa.
His
job
was
to
take
pictures
of
the
American
Army
in
France
and
of
Red
Cross
relief
work.
Lewis
W.
Hine,
famous
for
his
character
studies
of
children
and
of
Ellis
Island
immigrants,
also
went
overseas
and
throughout
the
collection
are
many
fine
examples
of
his
work.
At least 32 other photographers' work is present in the collection. (See the American National Red Cross Collection: Rights and Restrictions Information for a list of their names.)
Particularly well-represented in the collection are scenes and events in France, England, Italy, Russia, Albania, the Balkans, and Greece.
Other
countries
of
Europe
represented
in
this
collection
are
Austria,
Belgium,
Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia,
Germany,
Lithuania,
Holland,
Hungary,
Ireland,
Rumania
and
Turkey.
The
American
Red
Cross
brought
food
and
medical
relief to the people of these countries.
The
collection
also
contains
photographs
of
Alaska,
Brazil,
Canada,
Canal
Zone,
China,
Cuba,
Guam,
Guatemala,
Haiti,
Hawaii
and
Japan.
There
are
views
of
earthquake
and
flood
victims,
child
welfare,
typhus
and
cholera
epidemics
in
these
areas.
Also represented in the collection are Red
Cross
conventions,
committees,
home
hygiene,
hospital
work,
life
saving
instruction
and
occupational
therapy.
The collection includes many
portraits
of
the
personnel
of
the
American
Red
Cross,
the
people who
have
made
possible
the
great
work
of
this
organization.
In addition to the original photographs, the photographs include copies of documents and other individuals' and organizations' photographs collected by the organization related to its relief work.
Access and Description
Digital scans of more than of 18,000 5 x 7 inch glass negatives are available online. The descriptions that accompany the images draw primarily on original captions accompanying the images, and the titles for the photos are generally drawn from these sources. To search for topics or names, focusing on A.R.C. negatives, include "anrc" with search terms. Example: Brazil anrc.
Also online are selected photographic prints scanned in the course of fulfilling duplication orders for research, publication, and exhibition.
The overlap among the negatives and photographic prints in the collection is still being explored. Original photographic prints from the collection are represented in both processed and unprocessed collections:
-
Selected photographic prints have been grouped by subject matter into LOTs and can be requested for viewing through routine service in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. [view descriptions of LOTs]
-
The remainder of the photographic prints are unprocessed and stored off-site. Requests to view them can be submitted through Access to Unprocessed Materials procedures, using an online form. It is important, when requesting items among these thousands of photographic prints, to state a particular subject or geographic focus in order to narrow down the request.
Access to remaining, unprocessed negatives from the collection is very limited, as is the documentation about them. Inquiries should be submitted through Access to Unprocessed Materials procedures.
Rights Information
There are no known restrictions on photographs taken by staff of the American National Red Cross. The rights status for photographs collected from other sources, particularly those created outside the United States, is not known. For more information, see American National Red Cross Collection: Rights and Restrictions Information.
Related Resources
-
The division holds photographic prints documenting Red Cross activities taken by photojournalists, government and commercial photographers, including Toni Frissell and the Office of War Information. [view descriptions of groups (LOTs)] [view negatives]
-
Visual materials transferred from the Clara Barton papers may document some aspects of the organization's history [view descriptions]. The papers are available in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division [view description]. The Manuscript Division also has a microfilm of textual materials from the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College [view description].
Milhollen, Hirst D. "The American Red Cross Collection of Photographs and Negatives" in A Century of Photographs, 1846-1946. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1980: 130-141 (reprinted from the Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress, Feb. 1945). [View this article from A Century of Photographs, available online via Hathitrust.org]
World War I in Pictures: An Overview of Prints and Photographs Division Collections
Compiled by: P&P staff, partially excerpted from Milhollen, Hirst D. "The American Red Cross Collection of Photographs and Negatives" in A Century of Photographs, 1846-1946. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1980: 130-141 Created: December 2016.
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