The Light Collection contains images taken by newspaper photographers between 1924-1992 and includes portraits of community leaders, visiting celebrities, local events, work scenes, cityscapes in San Antonio and small towns in South Texas, and sports events. Only about 14,000 of these images are viewable in positive form through the reference collection of contact prints, with the remainder being in negative form only. People on horseback in the San Antonio River in Brackenridge Park, published in the San Antonio Light newspaper August 30, 1938. The range of topics is similar to those outlined above in the Light Collection. To date, only a very small percentage of the Express-News images has been made available as positive prints useable by researchers.
Most images remain in negative form only and a large backlog of cataloging remains to be done.
Access to the Express-News Collection generally requires the assistance and supervision of a Library staff person. At San Antonio's Bazan Branch Public Library, these children were taught about St. John, the Baptist, saint of the waters. Express-News photo by Charles Barksdale. The Zintgraff commercial photography studio based in San Antonio went out of business in the 1980s, and their inventory of prints and negatives was purchased for ITC by a private party at that time. Images date from the 1930s to 1987 and include views of local businesses and their employees, local events, and street scenes.