creator: Ansel Adams
View of cactus and surrounding area “Saguaros, Saguaro National Monument,” Arizona. (Vertical Orientation),
creation date: unknown
The U.S. National Archives: 79-AA-N05

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Ansel Adams
“The Tetons – Snake River,” Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming., circa 1935
U.S. National Archives: 79-AA-G01

Indicommons celebrates Ansel Adams’ birthday today, February 20, with a selection of his images held by the U.S. National Archives. A statement from the National Archive’s website explains,

The original negatives were retained by Ansel Adams. Reproductions of items in this series are made from copy negatives produced by the National Archives. The photographic prints in this series are in the public domain. In correspondence dated August 18, 1942, from Adams to E. K. Burlew, First Assistant Secretary, Department of the Interior, Adams states that the photographs are the property of the U.S. Government. Ansel Adams visited the National Archives in 1979.

Glacier National Park, Montana

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Acoma Pueblo National Historic Landmark, New Mexico

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

Taos Pueblo National Historic Landmark, New Mexico<

Canyon de Chelly National Historic Landmark, New Mexico

Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Ansel Adams, Boulder with hill in background, "Rocks at Silver Gate, Yellowstone National Park," Wyoming

New to the Commons today – but with months of uploads to contribute – is the U.S. National Archives. Thanks to President Franklin Roosevelt’s foresightedness and the Archives’ persistence in the difficult job of selecting from the vast quantity of material produced by the U.S. Government every year that portion which will be “of continuing value“, the U.S. National Archives’ Commons collection is already almost 4,000 images strong.

And what a collection it is – nearly 500 photographs by the great Civil War photographer Mathew Brady; a wide-ranging selection of photographs from the Environmental Protection Agency’s 1970s photography project DOCUMERICA, organized by photographer; 220 photographs, made available today, by the incomparable Ansel Adams; and so much more.

Don’t want to miss what’s next? Add the U.S. National Archives to your Flickr contacts, or the RSS feed of their photostream page to your feed reader.