Picturing the Past: Photographs at the Library of Congress, 1865-1954

The subject of this dissertation is the acquisition and status of photographs at the Library of Congress from 1865 to 1954. The origins of the photography collection, assembled in the late-nineteenth century through the mechanism of copyright deposit, and the status photographs in the Division of Prints (established 1897), and the Division of Fine Arts (established 1929), are reviewed. Both of these units had general responsibility for visual materials, including photographs, but emphasized service of fine arts material in operation. During the tenure of Librarian Archibald MacLeish (1939-1945), the Library reshaped its collection development policy concerning pictorial material, and in 1944 formed the Prints and Photographs Division. This reconfigured Division, in a reversal of long standing practice, featured the collection and use of documentary photographs. This work is a study of organizational change. The dissertation examines the external and internal circumstances which motivated the Library to redefine its purpose and to redirect its efforts regarding photography. The Library's changing policies and priorities are studied in the context of photography's emerging role in journalism, government, communication, and art. Drawing upon historical primary documents, including memoranda, correspondence, committee minutes, and annual reports, the efforts by MacLeish, and others, to establish a national photography collection are reconstructed. These efforts are analyzed using recent theoretical work in the field of organizational behavior, with particular reference to the issue of leadership and organizational change. It is found that a matrix of factors contributed to the reshaping of Library policy, including the new status of photography in American society, but the transformational leadership of MacLeish was pivotal to the change. MacLeish served as the vital link between developments in the culture and the Library of Congress. Examining the fortunes of the photography collections at the Library provides a window into the role that libraries and librarians play in constructing the visual memory of a culture. The preservation of the photographic heritage is found, in this case study, to be the result of forces in society and the power of an interested individual, intersecting within an organization, the national library.