The Photographer File dates primarily from 1930 through the present, but includes a few photographs by prominent photographers from as early as ca. 1882. The finding aid is arranged alphabetically by photographer's name; photographs are housed by size. Because of the varied nature of this collection, the photographs have been described more fully under each photographer's name in the folder listing. Researchers should be aware that in most cases the permission of the photographer is required for reproduction of images. Included within this collection are photographs by New York Photo League photographer Arnold Eagle; New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham; Magnum photographer Danny Lyon; and early female photographers Alice Austen, Alice Boughton, Margaret Bourke-White, Charlotte Fairchild, Frances Benjamin Johnson, Marie Russell, and Paula Wright. Prominent people portrayed in this collection include David Dinkins, Nelson Mandela, Albert Einstein, Doc Cheatham, Henry James, and Charles Dana Gibson.
The Photographer File is an artificial collection of photographs that have been acquired through donation or purchase from prominent photographers. Photographs in this collection were often acquired in small numbers or for exhibitions at The New-York Historical Society. Some of the photographs in this collection were included in The New-York Historical Society exhibit "Manhattan Now: 14 Photographers Look at the Form of the City" in 1974, or the 1981 exhibit "Manhattan Observed: Fourteen Photographers Look at New York, 1972-1981." The Photographer File has developed over the years as a collection to house photographs of New York, often by well-known New York photographers. While the file consists mostly of work from the 1930s through the present, photographs by some early portrait photographers, such as Alice Boughton, Frances Benjamin Johnson, Charlotte Fairchild, Underwood & Underwood, and William A. Cooper are also included.