Josephine Herrick Project Collection Preservation

FAIN: PG-232650-16

Josephine Herrick Project Inc (New York, NY 10038-2723)
Elana Hart (Project Director: April 2015 to September 2017)
Jessica Wanamaker (Project Director: September 2017 to October 2017)

A preservation assessment and the purchase of preservation supplies for the institution’s historical photo and film-based collections depicting military service men and women. The collection, which amounts to approximately 8,000 items, documents service members in New York City and in regional veterans hospitals from World War II to the present day. The majority of the photographs were taken by Josephine Herrick during and immediately following the war, when she worked as a War Service photographer and taught photography to veterans.  The collection also includes photographs taken by veterans chronicling life in veterans hospitals. Currently, the collection is used primarily for in-house exhibitions. With more accessibility, it would support significant humanities scholarship particularly in the fields of military history, the history of medicine, and the history of photography.

Josephine Herrick Project requests funds for a general preservation assessment of the institution's historical photo collections and to purchase materials for immediate preservation needs. Josephine Herrick Project is a photography non-profit where people in need take photographs to tell their story to the world. The collection consists of 8,000 records reflecting 75 years of photographs of veterans and by veterans in VA hospitals. A significant part of the collection is from WWII and includes the founder Josephine Herrick's photographs of servicemen going to war and during Navy Day in New York. The collection is an important part of New York and military history and is a significant source for humanities scholarship.