Series I is a collection of street scenes taken between about 1895 and 1906, during Arnold Genthe's residence in San Francisco. The earliest dated print is from 1898; most are approximately 13 by 9 inches in size. Photographs are arranged alphabetically by title or description.

All of the prints feature Chinese Americans going about their daily lives on the streets of Chinatown. Many photographs are of children, captured alone or with adults, often dressed in ornate, imperial-Chinese clothing (adults are generally not attired in this ornate clothing). One whimsical shot shows a gay parade of Chinese children marching through the streets, each holding onto the long braid of the child preceding him. Another shot captures two elaborately dressed children, standing in front of a porcelain-vase shop, about to cross the street; behind them, people mill about and, in a quintessential San Francisco scene, a streetcar descends a steep cobblestone street. A third striking photograph, titled "Dead to the World," depicts a down-and-out man seated on a grimy stair in a back alley, eyes closed. In Genthe's book of photographs on Chinatown (text by Bill Irwin), this print is captioned "The Hop Fiend," a reference to people like this man who were hooked on opium, the street drug of choice in turn-of-the-century Chinatown. Genthe also took a number of other photos (not in this series) depicting the seamier and sometimes criminal side of San Francisco's Chinatown.

Series II encompasses the better part of Arnold Genthe's career as a photographer, and fills Boxes 3 through 9. Arranged alphabetically by sitter. Unidentified persons are listed at the end, alphabetically by description.

Genthe began shooting portraits while still living in San Francisco, in 1906; most of his portraiture, however, was done in New York City, where he resided from 1911 until just before his death in 1942. Some of the portraits are classic studio shots, the subjects posed with studio draping (satiny or filmy wraps for the women) against curtained backdrops. These more "serious" portraits include such society and political luminaries as Mary Astor, Sara Delano Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman, the latter a color portrait (probably taken between 1935 and 1942) in which the then-U.S. senator is seated in a garden with Josef Stalin and other leaders. Actors and artists figured largely both as Genthe's subjects and as his friends, and these portraits are among his most playful and affectionate. Henry Miller mugs in Revolutionary-era costume. A young Jack London, in white shirt and tie, is handsome and rumpled, looking thoroughly modern. Mary Pickford is all flowers and lace, very much "America's Sweetheart." The actress Jeanne Eagels, in flowing robe, laughs with delight as she holds aloft a small dog. A bearded Ezra Pound looks fierce and independent, an artist of no pretension sitting for his portrait in plaid shirt and woolly vest. But perhaps most striking and enduring in this series are Genthe's portraits of Greta Garbo and Edna St. Vincent Millay. The great Garbo is, as ever, her dramatically aloof self; in one exquisite shot she is seen in profile, head tilted back, neck impossibly long; in another, she faces forward, a tragedian with hand grasping throat. The poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay, in an early portrait, is luminous in a simple, sailor-style linen dress, framed by a magnolia tree in bloom. Prints in the series range from about 6 by 5 inches to 17 by 14 inches.

Series III is arranged into two subseries: Domestic Views - United States; and Foreign Views - Guatemala; thereunder it is arranged alphabetically by title or description of view. Each subseries is distinct in both style and composition (Domestic Views are in color, Foreign Views in black and white), having been taken at very different points in Genthe's career; the uniting factor is that both are of landscapes.

Domestic Views - United States are among the last prints Genthe made. In these, he experiments with the newest photographic technique, color photography, which was introduced for transparencies in 1935, just seven years before Genthe's death. It is estimated, then, that these were all taken between 1935 and 1942. Prints range from about 6 by 9 inches to 10 by 8 inches.

In contrast to Genthe's culturally significant shots of turn-of-the-century Chinatown or his dramatic portraits of actresses, dancers, and socialites, these prints are rather less accomplished from a technical point of view. Most are of gardens and trees, a friend's terrace, and a rolling landscape. Only one was taken at night, a colorful explosion of fireworks over the water.

Foreign Views - Guatemala appear to have been taken in 1927 (most of the photos are dated as such). The prints range from approximately 6 inches by 8 inches to 9 1/2 inches by 8 inches. It is likely they were shot in the city of Antigua, which, as Genthe notes in his autobiography, he was "particularly eager to explore"; the mountains in the background of several photographs further indicate this may be Antigua, a city that is set in a valley and surrounded by volcanic mountains. Many of the ten photographs in this subseries feature half-ruined cathedrals. In addition to capturing the ruined churches, Genthe also records some scenes of daily life in 1920s Guatemala: a man leading his oxen as they haul a cart; a woman (parcels balanced on her head) walking with a small boy past a cathedral; a barely clothed child standing on a dock at the edge of the water, palm trees waving overhead.

Series IV contains prints that are among Genthe's most poetic and purely artistic. They capture a watershed moment in dance performance, when the aesthetic began to change from classical to modern; these developments are exemplified most dramatically by the shots of Isadora Duncan and her dancers, the Marion Morgan Group, and the Ritual Dancers of St. Mark. While to modern eyes some of the props and articulations - the flowing Grecian robes, the urns and "palace" settings, maidens frolicking through the woods - may border on parody, they represent something revolutionary: a breaking free of Victorian constraints, a sudden liberty of the female form. Two rather more sophisticated photographs, of Anita Zahn and Margaret Severn dancing at ocean's edge, utilize the same "exotic" costuming (flowing, sheer robes) and naturalistic setting. The remainder of the prints are rooted more in the theater: Tilly Losch and Harald Kreutzberg in "Orientalist" pose and costuming (another popular aesthetic in the early 20th century); Uday Shan-Kar and Simkie, who brought traditional Indian dance to Manhattan; and the well-known "La Argentina" (Antonia Merce), in classic flamenco pose. The prints in the series range from about 9 by 7 inches to 13 by 10 inches; all are black and white. Photographs are arranged alphabetically by last name, title, or description.

Series V contains only four prints, though each appears to be quite lovingly composed, attesting to Genthe's admitted lifelong passion for felines. None of the prints are dated, but given other factors and events in Genthe's life, it is estimated they were shot in the 1920s. The prints are approximately 10 inches by 13 inches, or the reverse, and are arranged alphabetically by title. Genthe's adored cat Buzzer (he had four to whom he gave that name) is featured in at least two of the photographs: One has Buzzer curled up on a chair, resting his head on a Chinese doll that is almost his size; the other shows Buzzer contentedly lounging on a couch. A third shot is of a cat (possibly Buzzer) perched atop wine barrels, sun and shadows playing off barrels and cat. The fourth was taken of a cat in a courtyard in New Orleans, when Genthe visited that city in the early 1920s and took a number of architectural shots.

Series VI contains numerous subjects in more than 3,200 nitrate and acetate negatives, though only a handful match up with the vintage prints in this collection - perhaps not surprising considering these were a separate acquisition from the Library of Congress. The series includes personalities such as Greta Garbo and J. P. Morgan; Genthe on horseback; numerous sitters for studio portraits; San Francisco's Chinatown; New York City buildings in 1931 and Central Park; Long Island houses, gardens, and hunting grounds; White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia; views of New Orleans, Guatemala, Japan, and various locales in Europe; and dance groups, including Isadora Duncan's troupe and the Marion Morgan group. Dated negatives span 1913-1942, but the size of the Chinatown film negatives suggests that they may be the original 1890s exposures taken with a handheld camera.

An item list is not available for this series, which contains more than 3,200 items, many of which are duplicates or near-duplicates. However, a database is available for browsing. Probably most useful to researchers is the ability to search by name of sitter or by subject. Of the latter, subjects used for the Genthe's photographs are used in the database as well, in addition to several added subjects: Buildings, Interiors, Art Objects, Documents, and Events.