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[Crime Scene Album]

Compiled by Dr. Edward E. Smith American
ca. 1940
Not on view
This album of forty postmortem photographs of murder victims was compiled in about 1940 by Dr. Edward E. Smith, the coroner for Franklin County, Ohio. Gruesome and unsettling, yet at times strangely compelling, the album is an anthology of stories with unhappy endings. This photograph of a murdered couple on the floor of their home uncannily resembles a classic noir film still, providing a real-world equivalent of the gritty, high-key black-and-white aesthetic that would come to define that cinematic genre.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: [Crime Scene Album]
  • Maker: Compiled by Dr. Edward E. Smith (American)
  • Artist: Unknown (American)
  • Date: ca. 1940
  • Medium: Gelatin silver prints
  • Dimensions: Most images approx.: 7 × 8 in. (17.8 × 20.3 cm)
  • Classification: Albums
  • Credit Line: Twentieth-Century Photography Fund, 2014
  • Object Number: 2014.238.1 (1–37), .2–.4
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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