The Summer Place to Be: Bert Morgan's Focus on Saratoga

Bert Morgan (1904-1986) was one of the most prominent photographers of thoroughbred racing and American society in the 20th century. In the 1930s, he began photographing at Hialeah Park in Florida. By 1940, Morgan was hired as the official photographer for the tracks in New York (later the New York Racing Association). His son eventually joined him to open Bert and Richard Morgan Studio in 1956. Together they captured some of the most significant moments in thoroughbred racing history, until Bert Morgan's death in 1986.

In 2021, the Museum was fortunate to receive a donation of more than 4,000 photographic negatives by Bert Morgan from Patrick Montgomery. The images in the exhibition showcased the Museum’s newly conserved and digitized images of scenes at Saratoga Race Course from the 1930s to the 1980s. The exhibit was on view in the von Stade Gallery.