What They Saw: Historical Photobooks by Women Reading Rooms @ NYPL

New York Public Library—42nd Street

• Center for Research in the Humanities (2nd Floor, 10 am-5:45 pm daily, free and open to the public without registration)
• Prints & Photos Study Room (3rd Floor, Room 308, 1 pm-5:45 pm daily, free and advanced registration required by email: photography@nypl.org with subject heading “What They Saw”).

In collaboration with 10×10 Photobooks, the New York Public Library’s Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs is pleased to host the What They Saw: Historical Photobooks by Women Reading Rooms, two spaces to browse and view 200 photobooks from 1843 to 1999. 

A drop-in, hands-on experience will take place in the Center for Research in the Humanities on the 2nd floor, with rare books accessible for viewing in the Prints & Photos Study Room in room 308. Both reading rooms are free and open to the public, but advanced registration is required to visit room 308 by emailing  photography@nypl.org with subject heading “What They Saw.”  

Below are What They Saw public events to explore photobooks created by women photographers!

Guided Tours of the Rare Books in What They Saw
Prints & Photos Study Room / Room 308 (3rd floor)
Thursday, May 19 at 12 pm
Friday, May 20 at 12 pm
Advance registration required here.
Tour and learn about the rare books in the What They See Reading Rooms with Elizabeth Cronin, NYPL Wallach Division Assistant Curator of Photography.

Work/Cited: Rewriting Photobook History to Include Women
Wednesday, 11 May at 1 pm
Virtual event. Link here.
In this episode of Work/Cited, The New York Public Library’s series that showcases scholarship supported by the Library’s rich collection, Wallach Division Assistant Curator Elizabeth Cronin and Olga Yatskevich and Russet Lederman, co-editors of What They Saw: Historical Photobooks by Women, 1843–1999, will discuss women’s involvement in the emergence and development of the photographic book—sharing both well-known books as well as many forgotten examples. 

What They Saw in Bryant Park
9-30 May. Link here.
On the cafe tables in Bryant Park on the front porches on either side of the main entrance of The New York Public Library, What They Saw is showcasing images of six historical photobooks by women. Enjoy a warm sunny day in the park while learning about photobooks by women. The use of the park cafe tables is courtesy of the Bryant Park Corporation.

Spotlight Talks
Center for Research in the Humanities (2nd floor)
Thursday, 19 May; Friday, 20 May and Saturday, 21 May at 11:30 am, 1 pm, 3:30 pm and 4 pm
Throughout the run of the What They Saw Reading Rooms, experts will present short 15-minute talks on individual photobooks on view. These talks are free and do not require any advance registration—just drop in.

Spotlight Talks Schedule

Thursday, May 19 

• 11:30 am: Kelsey Sucena on Putting Myself in the Picture: A Political, Personal and Photographic Autobiography (1986)
• 1 pm: Chantal Lee on Rosemarie Clausen, Samuel Beckett Inszeniert das “Endspiel” (Samuel Beckett Stages “Endgame”) (1969)
• 2:30 pm: Emily Walz on Margaret Bourke-White, You Haven’t Seen Their Faces (1937)
• 4 pm: Deirdre Donohue on Dare Wright, The Lonely Doll (1957) 

Friday, May 20 

• 11:30 am: Dolly Meieran on Susan Meiselas, Kurdistan: In the Shadow of History (1997)
• 1 pm: Carole Naggar on Hannah Hoch, Sammelalbum (Album, 1933)
• 2:30 pm: Karen Sklar on Marianne Wex, ‘Let’s Take Back Our Space’: “Female” and “Male” Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures (1979)
• 4 pm: Elizabeth Cronin on Toni Frissell, A Children’s Garden of Verses (1944)

Saturday, May 21 

• 11:30 am: Miguel Rosales on Paz Errázuriz, Amalia (1973, reprint 2013)
• 1 pm: Jesse Dritz on Carrie Mae Weems, In these Islands: South Carolina • Georgia (1995)
• 2:30 pm: Anna Jacobson on C. Jane Gover, The Positive Image: Women Photographers in Turn-of-the-Century America (1988)
• 4 pm: Olga Yatskevich on Alicia D’Amico & Sara Facio, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires (1968)

The What They Saw Reading Rooms are supported by an anonymous donor, Evan Mirapaul, Stuart Richardson and Grace Jones Richardson Trust.