At the beginning of the 20th century, Edward S. Curtis set out to document what he saw as a disappearing race: the Native American. From 1907 to 1930, Curtis took more than 2,000 photos of 80 tribes stretching from the Great Plains to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. He then published and sold these photos, along with narrative text, in 20 volumes of work known as “The North American Indian”. It is one of the most significant collections of its kind, “probably the most important photographic document of its age and its topic,” said Jeffrey Garrett, associate university librarian for Special Libraries at Northwestern University. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)

A grave cleaner holds up a skull during exhumation works at the Cemetery General in Guatemala City May 24, 2013. If a lease on a grave has expired or not been paid, grave cleaners will break open the crypts to remove and rebury the bodies. (Photo by Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)

Sebastião Salgado is a Brazilian documentary photographer living in Paris. He has produced several books, and his work has been exhibited extensively around the world. His latest work, «Genesis», premieres at The Natural History Museum in London on April 11, on view through September 8, 2013. Photo: On South Georgia, a barren island in the far South Atlantic, a pair of southern elephant seal calves beckon before a colony of king penguins. “The male seals can grow to almost five tons,” says Salgado, “but these are just babies. This one looked at me with beautiful eyes”. (Photo by Sebastião Salgado/Amazonas/Contact Press Images)

“By 1969, the fashion choices of tens of millions of young American men and women were as variegated and ever-evolving as the world around them. Cultural transformation was an irresistible force during the Sixties, and across America and around the globe civil rights, women’s and gay liberation, the sexual revolution and, of course, the explosive soundtrack of R&B, soul and rock and roll informed everything from politics to fashion”. – LIFE. Photo: Corona del Mar High School students Kim Robertson, Pat Auvenshine and Pam Pepin wear “hippie” fashions, 1969. (Photo by Arthur Schatz/Time & Life Pictures)

A baby rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) looks up as it plays with a tiger cub at a zoo in Hefei, Anhui province, August 2, 2012. (Photo by Jianan Yu/Reuters)

A driver maneuvers his classic American car along a wet road as a wave crashes against the Malecon in Havana, Cuba on Thursday. Hurricane Sandy blasted across eastern Cuba as a potent Category 2 storm and headed for the Bahamas after causing at least two deaths in the Caribbean. (Photo by Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press)

British born leading lady Elizabeth Taylor feeds the pigeons in Trafalgar Square, London. (Photo by Chris Ware/Keystone/Getty Images). November 1948

A visitors to the National Galleries of Scotland view the work “A girl” of sculptor Ron Mueck on August 4, 2006 Edinburgh in Scotland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)