USAMHI Photograph Holdings
www.usahec.org
     

The U.S. Army Military History Institute (USAMHI) holds well over 1.5 million photographs in its onsite Photograph Archive Collection. Only a portion
of them are accessible online through the photograph catalogs and databases that are discussed here. Researchers may identify relevant photograph "collections" by clicking on the Research Catalog button at http://www.ahco.army.mil/site/index.jsp and typing in desired search terms followed by the word "photograph." To view the Institute’s online photograph catalogs and databases, just go to the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC) website at www.usahec.org and follow the step-by-step instructions given below.
     

Digitized Photographs

 
Many thousands of images have been digitized and are available in our digital archive. We will be adding more digitized photographs from our collections which
will continue to be seen here in ever increasing numbers. With such an immense and diverse collection it will be many years before a sizeable percentage of our holdings will be available online. However, researchers can still contact us and, if appropriate, pay us a visit to view the rest of the collection. Please note that
these images are available online for review purposes only, and that a watermark will be applied to any that are downloaded or printed out.
     

Digitized Photographs Grouped By Time Period
To view actual digitized images from some of the Institute’s collections that have been scanned and downloaded to our website please select the following choices starting on our http://www.ahco.army.mil/site/find_dds.jsp. Click on “Photographs” and then select “Browse.” Then:

1. Select the time period of your choice
2. Enter your search terms in the “Search Panel” (Left Side)
3. Click on "Submit Search"

NOTE: If searching for Civil War images, doing the above search for the period of the Civil War (1860-1865) will ALSO search the digitized MOLLUS-MASS Civil War Album Collection pages. If you ONLY want to search the Album Collection, please see below.


Digitized MOLLUS-MASS Civil War Album Collection
In 2007 the Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) set out to digitize what is considered to be the single-best Civil War photograph collection in the world. We are proud to present over 23,000 digitized images from 117 volumes of our Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States - Massachusetts Commandery (MOLLUS-MASS) Photograph Collection. The images from this Union officer veterans’ organization collection are so vast and comprehensive that they are invaluable to American military history. Patrons will find over 5,000 pages of these exquisite photograph volumes contained in this digital collection. An introduction to the collection is available at http://www.carlisle.army.mil/ahec/mollus.cfm. To view the entire collection, visit the Army Heritage Collections Online page at http://www.ahco.army.mil/site/index.jsp and click on the “MOLLUS- Massachusetts Photograph Collection” link in the lower right corner of the page. Then:

1. Enter your search terms in the “Search Panel” (Left Side)
2. Click on "Submit Search"


Digitized Carlisle Indian Industrial School Image Collection
In 2010 the Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) finished digitizing one of our most important collections. We are proud to present to the public digital images of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School (1879-1918). Images include student and faculty photos as well as academic, recreation, and work scenes at the school. A photo gallery of images selected from the collection is available at http://www.carlisle.army.mil/AHEC/mediagallery/photoGallery.cfm?id=59. To view the entire collection of over 1,000 digital images, visit the Army Heritage Collections Online page at http://www.ahco.army.mil/site/index.jsp and click on the “Carlisle Indian Industrial School Photograph Collection” link in the lower left corner of the page. Then:

1. Enter your search terms in the “Search Panel” (Left Side)
2. Click on "Submit Search"
     

Photograph Citation Listings

 

The following two catalogs/databases will provide you with search results relevant to your search terms.
These results will consist of "listings" of photo description/location citations so that they may be found in our holdings.
     

Note: Type out FULL place names (Norfolk, not Norf), state names (Virginia, not VA), and unit types (Infantry, not Inf). Do NOT use the term "Regulars" in unit searches (12th US Infantry, not 12th Regulars). You can also search for items such as “sword”, “chair”, “tent”, “insignia”, etc.

Civil War Combined Search
To view "listings" of image citations using a combined search of BOTH our MOLLUS-MASS Photograph Catalog and our Old Civil War Photograph Database please select the following choices starting on our Army Heritage Collections Online page at http://www.ahco.army.mil/site/index.jsp.

1. Digital Documents (in horizontal black bar at top)
2. Browse
3. Browse only digital finding aids
4. Databases
5. Civil War
6. DO NOT pick either of the two options
7. Enter your search terms in the “Search Panel” (Left Side)
8. Click on "Submit Search"

Photograph Card Catalog
To view "listings" of image citations from our Photograph Card Catalog which contains approximately 39,000 images from the beginnings of photography to Desert Storm please select the following choices starting on our Reference Bibliographies/Finding Aids page at http://www.ahco.army.mil/site/finding_aid.html.

1. Under “Photograph Holdings” select “Photograph Card Catalog”
2. Enter your search terms in the “Search Panel” (Left Side)
3. Click on "Submit Search"

The USAMHI Home Page may be reached by clicking HERE.