Prints of Niagara Falls

As the Niagara River, with its magnificent Niagara Falls, cuts its broad course across the Niagara Peninsula, so illustrations of the river and the falls cut a wide path through the history of prints of America from the late-seventeenth century, when Hennepin provided the first printed view of Niagara Falls, through to the twentieth century. Probably more printed views of Niagara Falls were published before the twentieth century than of any other American landmark. Indeed, Niagara Falls may be the most pictured site in the world. The Charles Rand Penney Collection of prints of Niagara Falls thus represents more than a graphic portrayal of a small riparian stretch of landscape; it provides us with a history of the changing image of one of the most lasting symbols of the "New World." The Charles Rand Penney Collection contains an impressive selection of prints of Niagara Falls; it is the largest collection of such prints in the world, ranging from the first print of Niagara by Louis Hennepin [1] to early twentieth century prints such as Fredricc Madan's train poster [706].

The text and numbering of the prints in this collection comes from Christopher W. Lane's Impressions of Niagara. The Charles Rand Penney Collection of prints of Niagara Falls and the Niagara River from the Sixteenth [sic] to the early Twentieth Century. (Philadelphia, 1993). This book was issued in conjunction with the exhibit of a selection from the Penney Collection at the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University during the summer of 1993.

Inevitably there were some corrections needed to the text of this work (including the title), and Dr. Penney has been able to acquire a number of other prints for his collection in the intervening years. These web pages reflect these corrections and include the added prints. These are indicated by a numbers in this format, XXX-Ad, e.g. xxx-Ad.