“Abraham Lincoln”
Artist: Alexander Gardner
Albumen silver print
1865
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Frederick Hill Meserve Collection
Since its advent, photography has changed the way we experience and remember culture. Portrait photography, in particular, helps to catalog those who have an outsized impact on society. A forthcoming exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery looks back at portrait photography, what it can tell us about American history and culture, and how it helped shape the two. The show, titled Photographic Memory: Fifty Years of Collecting, features more than 120 works from the institution’s collection—including never-before-exhibited pieces.
Photographic Memory celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Portrait Gallery’s photographic repertoire. Photos now account for nearly half of the museum’s total holdings, but that wasn’t always the case. Photography didn’t enter the museum’s collection until 1976—the year of the U.S. bicentennial—when it expanded its collecting mandate to include photography. This shift mattered; without it, the Portrait Gallery couldn’t feature people important in U.S. history who never sat for a painted portrait or posed for a sculpture.
Although the show covers 50 years of collecting, some photographs in the exhibition are much older. One notable work includes a 1846 daguerreotype (the first publicly available photo process) of Dolley Madison by John Plumbe Jr. In the show, it’s paired with a 1843 half-plate daguerreotype of President John Quincy Adams. This marks the first time that the earliest known photograph of a U.S. president and a first lady have been shown together.
Other pieces in Photographic Memory include iconic images and people beyond politicians. These works include Alexander Gardner’s original “cracked plate” portrait of Abraham Lincoln, images of athletes like Muhammad Ali, singers including Billie Holiday, and artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Isamu Noguchi. The exhibition also debuts a portrait of poet and author Amanda Gorman, photographed by Shawn Theodore, and a portrait of actor and activist Christopher Reeve by Herb Ritts. The exhibition also features influential photographers, including Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, and Gordon Parks.
For history lovers who believe in the power of photography, Photographic Memory: Fifty Years of Collecting isn’t a show to miss. The exhibition is organized chronologically, allowing visitors to trace U.S. cultural history and advances in photography.
Photographic Memory: Fifty Years of Collecting opens November 14, 2026, and runs through November 7, 2027. The National Portrait Gallery is free to all.
A forthcoming exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery looks back at portrait photography, what it can tell us about American history and culture, and how it helped shape the two.
“John Quincy Adams”
Artist: Philip Haas
Half-plate daguerreotype
1843
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Acquired through the generosity of the Secretary of the Smithsonian and the Smithsonian National Board; The Burnett Family Fund; Carl and Marilynn Thoma; Connie and Dennis Keller; Tim Lindholm and Lucy Gaylord Lindholm; Mr. and Mrs. John W. McCarter, Jr.; Mr. and Mrs. Ronald J. Gidwitz; Ellen G. Miles and Neil R. Greene; Ronnyjane Goldsmith; David D. Hiller; Richard and Janet Horwood; and Mary Martell.
The show, titled Photographic Memory: Fifty Years of Collecting, features more than 120 works from the institution’s collection—including never-before-exhibited pieces.
“Dolley Madison”
Artist: John Plumbe, Jr.
Quarter-plate daguerreotype
1846
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquired through the generosity of the Secretary of the Smithsonian and the Smithsonian National Board; Ann S. and Samuel M. Mencoff; Joseph L. and Emily K. Gidwitz Memorial Foundation; Robert B. and Lynne B. Uhler; John H. Simpson; Armene and Mary Choksi; Tim Lindholm and Lucy Gaylord Lindholm; Ronald and Christina Gidwitz; Ronnyjane Goldsmith; Elena and Robert Allbritton
“Frederick Douglass”
Unidentified Artist
Quarter-plate ambrotype
c. 1856
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; purchase with funds from an anonymous donor
“Ida B. Wells-Barnett”
Artist: Sallie E. Garrity
Collodion print
c. 1893
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
“Brigham Young”
Artist: Charles DeForest Fredricks
Copy after: Unidentified Artist (Photographer)
Salted paper print with ink wash
c. 1857 (after c. 1847 daguerreotype)
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
“Red Cloud”
Artist: Charles Milton Bell
Albumen silver print
1880
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
“Thomas Edison”
Artist: William Kennedy Laurie Dickson
Cyanotype on paper
1890
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
“Alfred Stieglitz”
Attribution: Paul Burty Haviland
Cyanotype
c. 1910
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
“Pare Lorentz”
Artist: Dorothea Lange
Gelatin silver print
1936
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution © The Dorothea Lange Collection, the Oakland Museum of California, City of Oakland. Gift of Paul S. Taylor
“Eleanor Roosevelt”
Artist: Yousuf Karsh
Gelatin silver print
1944
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Estrellita Karsh in memory of Yousuf Karsh
© Estate of Yousuf Kars
“Lena Horne”
Artist: Philippe Halsman
Gelatin silver print
1954
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© Philippe Halsman Archive
“Althea Gibson”
Artist: Genevieve Naylor
Gelatin silver print
1957 (printed c. 1970)
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution © Estate of Genevieve Naylor
“Susan Sontag”
Artist: Peter Hujar
Gelatin silver print
1975
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© 2025 The Peter Hujar Archive / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
“New York, New York”
Artist: Tseng Kwong Chi
Selenium-toned gelatin silver print
1979 (printed 2017)
© 1979, Muna Tseng Dance Projects, INC.
“Christopher Reeve, Side View, Hollywood”
Artist: Herb Rits Jr.
Gelatin silver print
1996
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution: Gift of the Herb Ritts Foundation
© Herb Ritts Foundation
“Spike Lee”
Artist: Jesse Frohman
Inkjet print
1999 (printed 2014)
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the artist; 2017 Portrait of a National Prize Recipient
© 1999 Jesse Frohman
“Mnêmosynê, Afrolinquistica – a portrait of Poet Laureate Amanda S. Gorman, 2018”
Artist: Shawn Theodore
Inkjet print
2018
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© 2018 Shawn Theodore
“Chef José Andrés”
Artist: Martin Schoeller
Inkjet print
2020
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
© Martin Schoeller
