In the mid 1960s, the museum purchased nineteen original prints directly from Imogen Cunningham with the intent of demonstrating the depth and breadth of her talents as a leading woman photographer of the twentieth century. The clarity of vision and strong, uncluttered composition of her photographs exemplify the aesthetic of Group f/64, an informal association she cofounded in 1932 with six other photographers including Ansel Adams and Edward Weston.

"It is very rewarding after all these years of work to have you decide on keeping the list of prints sent,” Cunningham wrote in a September 1966 letter to Norman Geske, Sheldon’s founding director. “It seems that only now are people beginning to think of photography both as an art and as historic representation.”