National Building Museum

Adopt an Artifact: Wurts Brothers Photography Collection

The National Building Museum is home to the nation’s foremost archive of American architectural and design heritage. The Adopt an Artifact program allows you to directly support the proper care and preservation of objects with critical conservation needs, helping the Museum continue its mission to inspire curiosity about the world we design and build. To support this initiative, click here.

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Program Details

For almost a hundred years, the Wurts Brothers Photography Company, based in New York City until 1979, documented architecture and buildings across the United States. Their large-format photographs and glass plate negatives, from one of America’s first architectural photography studios, tell an unparalleled story about American building and economic expansion during the first half of the twentieth century.

The Museum owns a significant group of prints and negatives produced by the Company, including 4,000 glass negatives, 6,000 polyester negatives, and 20,000 prints depicting landmarked and iconic structures and a range of commercial and residential buildings. Alongside their business ledgers, the photographic prints often include a wealth of handwritten information on the back, yielding remarkable insights into the family business and cultural touchpoints of the era.