Doty, Robert. Photography in America by Robert Doty.

Ridge Press/Random House, 1974. 255 pages. Introduction by Minor White. [Complete record of the exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Art, November 20, 1974, to Janurary 12, 1975. Described as the first attempt in New York to survey the history of the medium since Beaumont Newhall's Photography 1839-1937 at the Museum of Modern Art. Reproductions of 259 photographs by 86 photographers, including Ansel Adams; Diane Arbus; George N. Barnard; Mathew Brady; Dea Brown; Frincis Bruguiere; Wynn Bullock; Harry Callahan; Paul Caponigro; Walter Chappell; Alvin Langdon Coburn; Mark Cohen; Imogen Cunningham; Charles H. Currier; Judy Dater; Bruce Davidson; F. Holland Day; Roy DeCarava; Thomas Eakins; Alfred Eisenstaedt; Walker Evans; Frank Eugene; Robert Frank; Arnold Genthe; Emmet Gowin; Douglas Kent Hall; Charles Harbutt; Erich Hartmann; Josiah Johnson Hawes; David Heath; Robert Heinecken; Lewis W. Hine; William Henry Jackson; Simpson Kalisher; Gertrude Käsebier; Joseph T. Keiley; George Krause; Les Krims; Syl Labrot; Dorothea Lange; Russell Lee; Danny Lyon; Nathan Lyons; Man Ray; Kate Matthews; Ralph Meatyard; Duane Michals; Barbara Morgan; Wright Morris; Eadweard Muybridge; Arnold Newman; Timothy O'Sullivan; Henry S. Peck; Eliot Porter; Leland Rice; Robert Riger; Jacob Riis; Carl Roodman; Lucas Samaras; George H. Seeley; Arthur Siegel; Aaron Siskind; Ben Shahn; Charles Sheeler; W. Eugene Smith; Frederick Sommer; Albert Sands Southworth; Edward J. Steichen; Ralph Steiner; Alfred Stieglitz; Dennis Stock; Paul Strand; George Tice; Jerry Uelsmann; Adam Clark Vroman; Todd Walker; Carleton Watkins; Weegee; Jack Welpott; Brett Weston; Edward Weston; Clarence White; Minor White; Wood and Gibson; and Don Worth.] Random House, 1974. 1st edition, fine in blue cloth with VG+ protected dust jacket.  Summary:

Photography in America (1974), edited by Robert Doty, is a comprehensive survey volume published by Random House for the Whitney Museum of American Art. Created to serve as the permanent record for a landmark exhibition held at the Whitney from late 1974 to early 1975, the book traces the historical evolution and visual language of American photography.

Key Details & Highlights

• Publisher & Scope: Published by Random House / Ridge Press in 1974 across 255 pages. It features 250 plates representing the work of 86 prominent American photographers from 1841 through the early 1970s.

• Introductory Context: Features an influential introductory essay by photographer and theorist Minor White, framing photography as both an artistic expression and a profound medium of national memory.

• Thematic Coverage: Spans early daguerreotypes and Civil War photojournalism through the Pictorialist movement, 20th-century social realism, and modern mid-century conceptual photography. Key featured figures include Matthew Brady, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, and Diane Arbus.

• Significance: Serves as both a retrospective celebration of American photographic history and an influential institutional canonization of the medium as a major pillar of fine art.