In an acquisition that has the potential to significantly expand the way the story of photography in the United States is told, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. has added 286 works from Larry J. West's photo collection to its holdings. Dating between the 1840s and around 1925, the works acquired include pictures by some of the most prominent early Black photographers in the U.S., among them James P. Ball, Glenalvin Goodridge, and Augustus Washington.

With the acquisition, the Smithsonian now owns more daguerreotypes by these three photographers than any other institution. And because many of the daguerreotypes are encased in ornate frames, they are unique.

Also coming from the collection of West, a historian of 19th-century photography, are pictures that could be worn as jewelry as well as portraits of abolitionists and women involved with the Underground Railroad. They testify to the ways that photography reshaped portraiture in the U.S. during the 19th century, offering new forms of representation that had not been seen in painting and sculpture.

Lonnie G. Bunch, secretary of the Smithsonian, said in a statement, “As a historian, I especially value Larry’s persistent pursuit of artworks and material culture that serve to illuminate an important time in the history of this nation and will help future historians and visitors to the Smithsonian understand the early American experience in a more inclusive manner."

A look at some of the objects in the acquisition appears in the following slideshow.