The Peter A. Juley & Son Collection is a rich photographic resource for the study of the Ashcan School, an informal association of six American artists who captured scenes of urban life in the early decades of the twentieth century. The New York photography firm Peter A. Juley & Son (active 1906-1975) photographed over 1,000 works of art by Robert Henri, George Luks, John Sloan, Everett Shinn, William Glackens, and George Bellows. These photographs, some providing important visual documentation of subsequently altered, damaged or lost works, have been digitized and are now accessible to researchers online.

During their tenure as the leading fine arts photography firm in New York from 1906 to 1975, Peter A. Juley & Son assembled a collection of 4,700 photographic portraits of artists. These images capture some of the most well-known artists of the twentieth century, including Alexander Calder, Edward Hopper, Frida Kahlo, Franz Kline, Jacob Lawrence, Barnett Newman, Diego Rivera and Grant Wood. Many of the portraits depict their subjects at work in their studios or at home with their families and offer interesting glimpses into the artistic and social climate of the period. The Juleys also made hundreds of group photographs recording the histories of the National Academy of Design and Art Students League and documenting summer art colonies at Provincetown, Woodstock, Old Lyme and Ogunquit.