Photographic History Collection: Henry Horenstein: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Henry Horenstein (1948-) trained in history in the late 1960s at the University of Chicago and with the British historian EP Thompson. Coming of age at time when the new social history focused attention upon anonymous people, the working class and the role of culture, Horenstein took those lessons and applied them to his photography. He earned an MFA in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 1973. While at RISD Horenstein studied with noted photographers Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind. It was actually Callahan who encouraged Horenstein to pursue his passions for photography and country music. Since then, Horenstein has made a career of chronicling a series of subcultures including horse-racing and gambling, baseball stadiums, and burlesque performers, as well as being noted for his photographs of animals.

Horenstein is currently a professor at RISD. In addition to teaching classes, he is an active photographer always working on photographic and publishing projects. Horenstein is well-published, with over 25 books that either feature his photography or are widely used photography text books. He wrote the first darkroom textbooks, Basic Phtography and Beyond Basic Photgraphy. In Fall 2003, his book Honky-Tonk was published, containing an afterword written by NMAH curator Charlie McGovern. In 2006, NMAH featured the exhibition, Honky-Tonk: Country Music Photographs by Henry Horenstein, 1972-1981.

The collection consists of subjects such as fans and performers at outdoor music parks, in the parking lot, and performers on stage. Print sizes vary between 8 X 10 and 11X 14. The two 16 X 20 prints are a view of a crowd seen from backstage with JD Crowe & The South in sillouette, and “Bartender,” Wanda Lohnman leaning on the bar at Tootsies Orchid Lounge.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1971 - 1983
• maker: Horenstein, Henry
• Object Name: Henry Horenstein Collection
• ID Number: COLL.PHOTOS.000036
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.