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October 14, 2004
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Photographs and Graphic Works

Information About Holdings

The National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA)  holdings include an estimated 8 million photographs and graphic images, ranging in date from the 1850s to the present in the holdings of the Still Picture unit, 5 million photographs and graphic images in the holdings of the Presidential Libraries, and 9 million aerial photographs in the holdings of the Cartographic and Architectural unit. Many thousands of additional photographs are interfiled with textual records in the Washington, D.C. and College Park facilities as well as in the Regional Records Services Facilities. These materials are held by: On-Line Resources

Still Picture unit Materials

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Cartographic and Architectural unit Materials Presidential Library Audiovisual Finding Aids

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Archival Research Catalog (ARC)

Archival Research Catalog (ARC): The ARC database can be used to search by media type and by subject.
  • Among the accessible resources are the majority of series descriptions covering the holdings of the Still Picture unit of the Special Media Archives Services Division, National Archives at College Park, and digitized versions of over 40,000 selected photographs and posters from these holdings.
Search Hint :
  • Go to the ARC basic search screen.
  • Select "Photographs and other graphic materials" from the Type filter box, and "Still Picture Records LICON" from the NARA Location filter box.
  • Press the "Go" button to retrieve descriptions of photographs within the holdings of the Still Picture unit.
  • (You may limit your search further by entering keywords in the Keywords boxes.)
Search ARC

At this time, the following Regional Records Services Facilities have a small number of photographs described in ARC:
  • NARA's Mid-Atlantic Region
    • Center City Philadelphia
  • NARA's Southeast Region
    • Atlanta (East Point)
  • NARA's Central Plains Region
    • Kansas City
  • NARA's Rocky Mountain Region
    • Denver
  • NARA's Pacific Region
    • Laguna Niguel, California
    • San Francisco (San Bruno)
  • NARA's Pacific Alaska Region
    • Seattle
    • Anchorage
Search Hint:
  • Go to the ARC basic search screen, select Photographs and other graphic materials from the Type filter box and [A NARA regional facility] from the NARA Location filter box.
  • Press the "Go" button to retrieve descriptions of photographs within the holdings of the of that facility.
  • (You may limit your search further by entering keywords in the Keywords boxes.)
 Search ARC

At this time, the following Presidential Libraries have photographs described in ARC:
  • Herbert Hoover Library
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
  • Harry S. Truman Library
  • John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library
  • Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
  • Nixon Presidential Materials Staff
  • Gerald R. Ford Library
  • Jimmy Carter Library
  • Ronald Reagan Library
  • George Bush Library
Search Hint:
  • Go to the ARC basic search screen.
  • Select Photographs and other graphic materials from the Type filter box.
  • Select [A Presidential Library] from the NARA Location filter box.
  • Press the "Go" button to retrieve descriptions of photographs within the holdings of that Presidential Library.
  • (You may limit your search further by entering keywords in the Keywords boxes.)
 Search ARC

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Other Resources
  • Most of NARA's finding aids are not yet online
  • Send us your request.
The following Regional Records Services Facilities do not have photographs and graphic works finding aids on-line, but you may contact them for information about their holdings:
With the exception of items described in ARC, the following Presidential Library does not have photographs and graphic works finding aids on-line, but you may contact them for information about their holdings:
Privacy and Use Accessibility Frequently Asked Questions Contact Us NARA Home Page NARA Address: 700 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408, Telephone: 1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272