Founded by Ansel Adams, directed by Minor White and staffed by such luminaries as Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, Lisette Model, and Edward Weston, the first fine-art photography department in the United States was created in 1946 at the California School of Fine Arts. Contemporary with the emergence of the early modern style of photography, this dynamic faculty developed the modern photography curriculum as we know it today - not only bringing a new legitimacy to the medium of photography, but establishing the future of photography education.