Snowmen don’t last. Photos do. The camera’s ability to memorialize what is ephemeral is part of what makes the backyard sculptures of winter so photographable. We grow eager to freeze time when we realize a hard-earned creation won’t remain frozen for long.

The artist Eric Oglander suspects this has something to do with why there are so many old snapshots of snowmen. Oglander, who describes himself as a “collector of aesthetics,” remembers first encountering a snowman photo when doing a cursory eBay search for “antique photographs.” “The idea for the collection clicked immediately,” he said. “After I saw one, I started buying every snowman I found compelling.”