Caroline Valenta
Texas City Disaster

Texas City Disaster
Texas City Disaster
Texas City Disaster
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Texas City Disaster
Date1947
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 13 1/2 × 10 1/2 in. (34.3 × 26.7 cm)
Sheet: 13 1/2 × 10 1/2 in. (34.3 × 26.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of Caroline Valenta's children
Object number2022.477.1
Non exposé

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Department
Photography
Object Type
Description


Caroline Valenta was the first woman employed by the Houston Post as a photojournalist. Unlike many women entering the field of photojournalism, Valenta was treated as an equal by her male peers, and she was called upon to shoot the same range of assignments in the Houston area. On the morning of April 16, 1947, a fire aboard the SS Grandcamp, docked in Texas City’s port, detonated the ship’s cargo of ammonium nitrate, causing the deadliest industrial accident in US history and claiming the lives of at least 581 people. Valenta’s unflinching photographs of the disaster earned her a Pulitzer Prize nomination.



ProvenanceThe artist, d. 2013; by descent to the children of the artist; given to MFAH, 2022.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in pencil, verso, upper left: [check mark]

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Texas City Disaster
Caroline Valenta
1947
Gelatin silver print
2022.477.3
Texas City Disaster
Caroline Valenta
1947
Gelatin silver print
2022.477.2
Texas City Disaster
Caroline Valenta
1947
Gelatin silver print
95.66
Texas Legislature
Caroline Valenta
1945–1952
Gelatin silver print
2022.477.15
[High School Boys Basketball Team, District, State and City Champs]
Caroline Valenta
1949
Gelatin silver print
2022.477.26
[Strikers on Picket Line]
Caroline Valenta
1945–1952
Gelatin silver print
2022.477.31
Classroom, Seagoville Federal Prison
Caroline Valenta
1945–1952
Gelatin silver print
2022.477.23
Painting Mural, Seagoville Federal Prison
Caroline Valenta
1945–1952
Gelatin silver print
2022.477.24
Inmates Sewing, Seagoville Federal Prison
Caroline Valenta
1945–1952
Gelatin silver print
2022.477.21
Making Seats, Seagoville Federal Prison
Caroline Valenta
1945–1952
Gelatin silver print
2022.477.22
Natural Childbirth
Caroline Valenta
1957
Gelatin silver print
2022.477.29
[Cow Auction]
Caroline Valenta
1945–1952
Gelatin silver print
2022.477.30