Many Histories of Photography in One House

Part of the Focus 45 series. For the past three years, Ellen Handy has been conducting research at the Eastman Museum for her forthcoming book, Histories of Photography: An Introduction, which draws extensively on the museum's collections. Handy states, "The George Eastman Museum is the home of the history of photography—not only because it is the home of the man who did so much to create the photographic industry and medium many of us grew up with, or because it is the first and greatest museum dedicated to the camera arts—but also because it was here that Beaumont Newhall codified the history of photography in narrative form in 1949. From the perspective of today, the most striking thing about the photographic medium is its multiplicity—it has many histories, not one, and they are all to be found under this roof." Handy is the former Executive Curator of Photography and Visual Collections at Harry Ransom Center and Curator of Collections at the International Center of Photography. Currently, she is an Associate Professor in the Art Department at the City University of New York.