Guide to the David Halpern Photograph Collection

This finding aid describes the David Halpern Photograph Collection, part of the NPS History Collection. To search this guide for names, places, key words, or phrases enter Ctrl F on your keyboard (command key + F key on a Mac). Request an in-person research appointment or get more information by contacting the archivist.

Storm Clouds over Longs Peak, 1999. (NPS History Collection photo by David Halpern)

Collection Overview

Collection Number: HFCA 2123
Accession Numbers: HFCA-01961
Creator: Halpern, David (1936-)
Title: David Halpern Photograph Collection
Dates: 2009-2022 (bulk dates: 2020-2022)
Volume of Collection: 810 EA
Language of Materials: English

Digital Access: Electronic copies of the portfolios in Series I can be browsed online (enter “The Portfolios of David Halpern” into your preferred search engine). Halpern’s photographs in Series II are available digitally.

Conditions Governing Access: This collection is open to research use.
Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use: Copyright of this collection was transferred to the National Park Service on November 1, 2024. See the NPS general copyright & restrictions information.

Provenance: Donated to the NPS History Collection by David Halpern in 2022.
Processing Note: This collection was processed by Nancy Russell in July 2025.
Rights Statements for Archival Description: This guide is in the public domain.
Preferred Citation: David Halpern Photograph Collection, NPS History Collection (HFCA 2123)
Location of Repository: NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry Center, PO Box 50, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425

Related Materials:

• David Halpern photographs in the museum collections of Rocky Mountain, Acadia, Bryce Canyon, and Glacier national parks and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument.

Biographical Note

David Halpern was born on July 26, 1936, in Nashville, Tennessee. He developed an interest in photography as a child, exhibiting his first photographs in 1951. From 1954 through 1956, he attended the University of Missouri at Columbia and earned a BA from Vanderbilt University in 1958. He spent the next 15 years working in marketing, advertising, and public relations. Halpern married Judith Weinstein of Nashville in 1958. Together they had two sons. Following Judith’s death, Halpern married Sue Guterman on October 25, 1997.

In 1973 Halpern began a second career as a professional photographer, writer, and teacher. The next year he was given his first one-man show at the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge in Cache, Oklahoma. He worked as a photography instructor at the Philbrook Art Center in Tulsa from 1974 to 1977. In 1975 he was an adjunct instructor in photography at the University of Tulsa. Halpern was featured in the 1978-1979 Mid-America Arts Alliance exhibit and publication Twelve Photographers: A Contemporary Mid-American Document. He served as a member of the Education Committee of Philbrook from 1978 to 1983. He was also a photography instructor at the Visual Communications Department, Oklahoma State University, Okmulgee from 1990 to 1991. Throughout his career he also taught photography workshops, including several in national parks.

Halpern served 13 artist-in-residencies at national parks. He was the first artist chosen for Rocky Mountain National Park’s new program in 1984. He returned to that park in 1985, 1986, and 1987. He was also artist-in-residence at Bryce Canyon National Park (1988 and 1991); Black Canyon of the Gunnison (1989 and 1993); Glacier National Park (1990 and 1992); Acadia National Park (1994); and Bandelier National Monument (2015). Halpern helped establish the artist-in-residence program at Bandelier in 2014 and was its first participant. While there, he also photographed Valles Caldera National Preserve. In 2017 and 2018 he was artist-in-residence at Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, another program he helped establish.

From 1992 through 1998, By a Clearer Light, an exhibition of Halpern’s photographs commemorating the National Park Service’s 75th anniversary, traveled to 40 venues across the United States and was viewed by more than 400,000 people. The 25 photographs from that exhibition were donated to Rocky Mountain National Park in 1999. His 2013 exhibition Art of the National Parks benefitted the National Parks Conservation Association.

Until 1997 Halpern was best known for large format black-and-white prints of American landscapes. Since then, he has embraced digital photography in both black and white and color. Although his black-and-white landscapes have been described as in the tradition of Ansel Adams, Halpern never set out to “copy the master.” He noted, “I’ve never looked for his chosen viewpoints, and on three memorable occasions when I’ve found myself standing where he stood, I've felt uncomfortable making pictures reminiscent of his.” His approach was never deliberatively imitative.

Halpern traveled to and photographed Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, South America, England, Scotland, Italy, Iceland, Africa, and Greece. His book credits include two award-winning editions of Tulsa Art Deco (1979 and 2002) and Pilgrim Eye (2007). He has published a dozen portfolios of his work and has illustrated books by other authors. His photographs have been exhibited at numerous museums and galleries including the Gilcrease Museum, Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art, Tulsa Performing Art Center, Oklahoma Historical Society, Philbrook Museum of Art, Oklahoma State Capitol, and the US Department of Interior Museum.

In addition to National Park Service collections, Halpern’s work can be found at the US Department of Interior Museum; General Services Administration; Gilcrease Museum (Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art); Philbrook Museum of Art; International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum; Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art; the Temple, Congregation Ohabai Shalom in Nashville; and Boston Avenue United Methodist Church in Tulsa, as well as many private and corporate art collections.

In October 2004 Halpern was inducted into the Tulsa Historical Society's Hall of Fame.

Sources:

--. 1985, July 21. “Artist finds Haven at Summer Cabin.” Rapid City Journal (Rapid City, South Dakota), p. 9.

--. 1986, August 29. “Photos to be Shown at TU.” Tulsa World (Tulsa, Oklahoma), p. 24.

Halpern, David. Undated. “About David.” Accessed July 27, 2025, at https://davidhalpern.com/bio/

Halpern, David. 2024, November 11. Email correspondence with Nancy Russell, archivist of the NPS History Collection.

National Park Service. 2023, April 1. “David Halpern.” Accessed July 27, 2025, at https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/acadia-air_halpern.htm

Scope and Content Note

David Halpern’s black-and-white and color images from Acadia, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Bryce Canyon, Glacier, and Rocky Mountain national parks, Bandelier and Salinas Pueblo Missions national monuments and Valles Caldera Preserve. Digital photographs from these parks were either scanned by Halpern from his original negatives or born digital. The collection date range is based on the dates of the electronic files received from Halpern rather than the original negatives or digital images. Portfolios of Halpern’s images and commentary for these parks are also present and should be cross referenced for Halpern’s image titles and dates. A small number of images taken at Glacier and Salinas Pueblo Missions that are not in Halpern’s portfolios are also present.

Arrangement

Organized into two series as follows:
Series I: Portfolios, 1916-2020
Series II: Digital Images, 2009-2022 (bulk dates: 2020-2022)

Series I: Portfolios, 1916-2020

Volume of the series: 7 EA

Scope and Content Note

Halpern’s printed portfolios of his national park images, arranged by him with his commentary describing his experiences and offering his personal perspectives. The Bandelier book was created to document his artist-in-residence at the park, in lieu of donating images to the park, and the text is directed primarily to park staff. It also includes Valles Caldera photographs. Likewise, the Salinas Pueblo Missions book was designed as an expression of gratitude to the park. Both were created in limited editions. The Rocky Mountain portfolio images were taken between 1984 and 2005. The Bryce Canyon volume includes images made at the park and nearby locations in Utah between 1988 and 1994. The Glacier images were made in 1990 and 1992. The Acadia portfolio includes images made between 1992 and 2001 of seascapes, landscapes, and all the bridges on the park’s carriage road system.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically by publication date.

Container List

BOX 01
Folder 01: 2016, August 7, Bandelier National Monument
Folder 02: 2019, July 10, A Timeless Challenge Encounters with Colorado’s Black Canyon of the Gunnison River (revised edition)
Folder 03: 2019, November 27, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument—Another Perspective
Folder 04: 2020, March 30, The Portfolios of David Halpern. Volume I: Rocky Mountain National Park
Folder 05: 2020, April 25, The Portfolios of David Halpern. Volume II: Bryce Canyon National Park
Folder 06: 2020, May 21, Portfolios of David Halpern. Volume III: Glacier National Park
Folder 07: 2020, June 30, Portfolios of David Halpern. Volume IV: Acadia National Park

Series II: Digital Images, 2009-2022 (bulk dates: 2020-2022)

Volume of subseries: 803 EA (116 GB)

Scope and Content Note

Black-and-white and color digital images of national park sites by David Halpern. Parks featured are Acadia National Park (ACAD, 74 images); Bandelier National Monument (BAND, 155 images); Black Canyon of the Gunnison (BLCA, 78 images), Bryce Canyon National Park (BRCA, 84 images); Glacier National Park (GLAC, 86 images); Rocky Mountain National Park (ROMO, 193 images); Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument (SAPU, 81 images); and Valles Caldera Preserve (VALL, 52 images). Includes images taken at Glacier and Salinas Pueblo Missions that are not in Halpern’s portfolios. Halpern modified the Rocky Mountain image “Morning at Dream Lake” with imaging software to enhance the scene, particularly the sky and the clouds, and, therefore, it differs from the image on page 84 of that park portfolio.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by park and thereunder by Halpern’s image numbers.

Folder List

Folder 01: ACAD, 2009-2020
Folder 02: BAND, 2014-2022
Folder 03: BLCA, 2018-2022
Folder 04: BRCA, 2019-2020
Folder 05: GLAC, 2020
Folder 06: ROMO, 2020
Folder 07: SAPU, 2022
Folder 08: VALL, 2015-2022

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