Joyce F. Menschel Photography Library & Study Room for Photographs
Department of Photographs
The Joyce F. Menschel Photography Library supports the study of the Museum’s photographs collection. The library contains over 10,000 volumes, including artist monographs, exhibition catalogs, periodicals, auction catalogs, and microfilms, as well as rare books pertaining to the history of photography, and the personal library of Alfred Stieglitz. Located in the Department of Photographs, the Library primarily serves the curatorial staff.
Other Museum staff and outsiders wishing to consult items from the Menschel Library should request them in Watson Library for delivery and consultation there.
The Study Room for Photographs has enabled researchers to consult works from the Department’s collection of over 22,000 photographs from the 1830s to the present. The Walker Evans Archive — over 40,000 negatives and color transparencies, as well as journals, correspondence, library and vast collection of ephemera — can also be accessed through the Study Room.
The Study Room for Photographs is accessible to qualified researchers by appointment and with proper identification. Catalogue records for photographs in the collection are available in our Collection Database on the Museum’s website, www.metmuseum.org, and many are accompanied by images.
Hours: Tuesdays, 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. and 2:00–4:30 p.m., by prior appointment only.
Telephone: 212-570-3861
Email: photographs@metmuseum.org