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Print Collection portrait file

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Collection History

In order to help meet picture research needs early in the 20th-century, portraits were culled from the Print Collection and arranged by subject. Formats include original woodcuts, engravings, etchings, lithographs, and, occasionally, photographs, but for the most part the portraits are printed pictures clipped from periodical publications from the mid-19th through the early 20th-century.

Related Resources

There is limited indexing, in the form of a card file available in the department, of additional portrait prints in the Print Collection.

Collection Data

Description
In order to help meet picture research needs in the early 20th century, librarians culled portraits from the Print Collection and arranged them alphabetically by subject. The resulting Portrait File collection includes over 71,500 images of notable figures, mainly in American, British, and European history, from ancient times through the time of compilation. As of the mid 20th century, these files are no longer being added to. A collection comprised largely of images clipped from newspapers and periodical publications (in English, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and other languages), the Portrait File incorporates original woodcuts, engravings, etchings, lithographs, and photographs. While most works date from the 19th through the early decades of the 20th century, some stem from the the 18th century and earlier. Together, the images document the rise and distribution of printed portraits in the United States and abroad. The collection contains a wide array of biographical images related to its approximately 35,000 subjects. These include portraits; political cartoons and caricatures; silhouettes; likenesses captured in sculpture, monuments, coins, and medallions; scenes from life; homes and favorite places; manuscripts, art work, letters, possessions; deaths, funerals, burials, graves; and memorial events and commemorations. Collection coverage is particularly strong of the British and European monarchy and nobility, European and American military leaders, American presidents and politicians, major personalities of New York City politics and life, and of the luminaries in the arts and sciences in the Americas and abroad. While collection subjects are mainly male, women, especially as holders of hereditary titles, as authors, or as family members of other portrait subjects, make up a significant portion of the collection. The collection documents a diverse global population, including people of African, Asian, and Latin American descent. In telling the stories of its many subjects, The Portrait File covers the major milestones of British, European and American history to the early 20th century, giving researchers myriad biographical, historical, and pictorial currents to follow. Organization is alphabetically by portrait subject. When a subject is represented by many images, it is divided into topical subcategories. Napoleon I, for example, is represented by 1,359 items arranged into 58 topical subcategories such as “As a young officer” and “Campaigns & battles--1804-1805.” About half of the subjects, like Danish poet and novelist Jeppe Aakjær, are represented with just one image.
Dates / Origin
Date Issued: 1600 - 1975 (Approximate)
Library locations
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection
Topics
Biography
Celebrities
People
Genres
Clippings
Portraits
Illustrations
Prints
Photographs
Caricatures
Cartes de visite
Political cartoons
Silhouettes
obituaries
Type of Resource
Still image
Text
Identifiers
Other local Identifier: Portrait File
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 16ad5350-c52e-012f-aecf-58d385a7bc34
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