The Camera Heritage Museum
History and Photography Intertwine at the Camera Heritage Museum
Story for SMAD 422 at James Madison University - September 2024
STAUNTON – Nestled in the heart of historic Staunton, Virginia is The Camera Heritage Museum. Home to over 7,000 cameras, it’s the largest camera museum open to the public in the United States. According to Curator David Schwartz, only twenty-two percent of the collection is on display. The rest is stored in the building’s basement and upstairs.
Explaining the origins of the once fully operational camera store, Schwartz said “I came here in 1968 as a junior in high school, and bought it when I graduated.” Schwartz attended photography school and was a professional photographer for fifty-one years. “One of my teachers, Ansel,” Schwartz said as he casually gestured toward a portrait of the legendary photographer Ansel Adams.
On December 5th, 2011, the property was officially dedicated as a non-profit museum. The walls are lined with antique cameras and equipment of all types and ages, but there’s even more history found within the stories behind each one.
The Museum’s inventory has been brought in from around the world, and includes historic German Leicas, a one of 100 Japanese Canon made in the 1940s, and everything in between. Original photographs of notable Civil War figures such as Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth occupy a corner of the Museum.
Schwartz points to an old video camera sitting next to a woman’s black-and-white portrait. It’s one of many that belonged to Leni Riefenstahl, a German director and photographer. “This is the camera that did Jesse Owens winning the Olympics,” he said. Footage of Owens’ victory in the long jump was featured in Riefenstahl’s 1938 documentary, Olympia.
With over 400 donors, there’s no shortage of variety at the Camera Heritage Museum. Looking around the building, it can be hard to grasp that only about a quarter of the inventory is visible. Standing amongst his collection, Schwartz finds it impossible to pick out a favorite item: “If I had a favorite, would I have all of these?”
