How to Find Photographs in Person

If you are at the library, in addition to the suggestions for How to Find Photographs Using the Internet, here are some ideas:

A. BCLM Historical Photographs

These are oversize photographs of Baltimore, organized chronologically, from the Baltimore City Life Museum’s collections.  They can be found in the filing cabinets on the north wall of the Vertical File Room in the Library.

B. Three-ring Binders

To provide easy access, we have made photocopies of some of our most popular photos and placed them in three-ring binders, which are atop the filing cabinets on the north wall of the Vertical File Room in the Library.  These images may be photocopied.  Here are the subjects of the binders:

1. Baltimore, 1752-1899

2. Baltimore, 1900-1924

3. Baltimore, 1925-1945

4. Baltimore, 1946-1980

5. Baltimore Theaters/Rattling Through Baltimore: A

    Streetcar Tour
6. Historical Maryland and Baltimore Prints from the
    Hambleton Collection, Vols. I and II

7. Maryland African-American History

8. Maryland Views/Maryland Children/Famous

    Marylanders/Maryland Seasonal and Holiday Photographs

9. Maryland Photographers (Paul Henderson: African
    American Baltimore and A. Aubrey Bodine: Baltimore
    and Beyond)

C. Local History Subject File

This clippings file features newspaper and magazine articles about a wide variety of Maryland subjects, including geographical locations, buildings, institutions, organizations, businesses, events, and activities. The articles are organized alphabetically by subject and may be photocopied. Many of the articles include photographs. The quality of the photos is not very good, but if you are just looking for information rather than reproductions, this could be very useful for you. The Subject File is located in the Vertical File room. There is a binder atop one of the cabinets which contains a list of the headings used in the Subject File.

D. Books

You may find an image you want in a book. The Baldwin Library owns many books featuring excellent illustrations, many of the originals of which are in our collections. Among them are Bygone Baltimore, Maryland Time Exposure, Baltimore When She Was What She Used to Be, The Face of Maryland, and The Baltimore Book. You can browse the shelves to find others. Check the picture credits; they will tell you if the picture that you want is in the MdHS collection. (Items credited to the Baltimore City Life Museums or the Peale Museum are now the property of MdHS.) Books may be photocopied. Books are available in the main reading room. In addition to browsing the shelves, if you want to look for books with illustrations, try adding "ill" as a keyword when you are doing a search in the Online Catalog.

E. Maps and Prints

Don’t forget that the Library also has a large collection of maps and prints which may have images of interest to you.

F. Passano Historic Structures Index

Over the years, Library staff members have created a large card index to buildings by location.  The index often includes references to illustrations in books.  The Passano Index is located in the Family Chart Room in the Library.