The Graphics collection holds over 200,000 photographs, prints, and drawings of Connecticut people, places, and events. It is open to the public by appointment from 1:00 to 5:00, Monday through Friday. For an appointment, contact Nancy Finlay, Curator of Graphics, at (860) 236-5621, x236.

Copies and Permissions Information

Four thousand photographs, prints, and drawings from the CHS Graphics Collection may be viewed in this digital library at http://www.cthistoryonline.org.

The Graphics Collection houses almost 4000 drawings in pencil, ink, watercolor, chalk, crayon and a combination of techniques by amateur and professional artists. Related materials include architectural drawings and cut-paper silhouettes.

• Selections from the Drawing Collections

The Graphics Collection includes over 6000 prints, representing the major historical printmaking techniques as practiced in Connecticut: engraving, etching, wood engraving, and lithography. Prints are designs made by transferring ink from a plate, block, or stone usually to a sheet of paper.

• Selections from the Print Collections

The Graphics Collection includes over 200,000 original photographs, ranging from 1840s daguerreotypes through contemporary gelatin silver prints. Photographs are images produced on a light sensitive surface, usually film in a camera.

• Selections from the Photographic Collections

The Graphics Collection contains approximately 20,000 postcards dating from the late 19th century through the present. The images on postcards include original photographs, color lithographs, and examples of most of the major photomechanical printing techniques. Photomechanical techniques use photography to transfer images to printing places for mass production.