Bettmann Archive
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The Bettmann Archive is a collection of over 11 million photographs and images, some going back to the United States
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and including some of the best known U.S. historic images. The Archive also includes many images from Europe and elsewhere. It was founded in 1936 by Otto Bettmann (1903–1998), a
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who immigrated to the United States in 1935. He actively expanded his collection by advertising in magazines, e.g. in the Winter 1959 issue of ''
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'' "Wanting to buy: Old movie stills - ca. 1915 to 1935; early comedies -- well-known stars and productions." In 1960, Bettmann moved it from his apartment at 215 East 57th Street, in
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to the Tishman Building. In 1981, Bettmann sold the archive to the Kraus Thomson Organization. In 1995, the archive was sold to Corbis, a digital
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company founded by
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. Restrictions of access to the collection arising from this sale were described in the editorial "Goodbye to All That" in the May 2001 issue of ''American Heritage'' magazine. Between late-2001 and March 2002, to preserve the photos and negatives, Corbis moved the archive from Manhattan to the Iron Mountain
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, a former
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quarry located 220 feet (67 m) below ground in western
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. The temperature of the storage room is gradually being lowered to -4 °F (-20 °C), which was determined by film preservationist
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to be the optimal temperature for the long-term storage of the archive. At this temperature, the collection will degrade 500 times more slowly in than it did in Manhattan.Wilhelm, Henry et al. (2004
High-Security, Sub-Zero Cold Storage For the PERMANENT Preservation of the Corbis-Bettmann Archive Photography Collection
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's 2004 Archiving Conference
Meanwhile, Corbis has been scanning the negatives into digital form as they are ordered by clients. The archive began with Otto Bettmann's personal collection of 15,000 images which he brought with him in suitcases when he escaped from Nazi Germany. Over the years, it acquired other collections, including the Gendreau Collection of Americana in 1967, the
Underwood & Underwood Underwood & Underwood was an early producer and distributor of stereoscopic and other photographic images, and later was a pioneer in the field of news bureau photography. History The company was founded in 1881 in Ottawa, Kansas, by two brothers ...
Collection of material from late 19th century to World War I in 1971, and the
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collection in 1984. Today,
Getty Images Getty Images Holdings, Inc. is an American visual media company and is a supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three markets— creative ...
had taken over the Bettmann Archive before
Visual China Group Visual China Group (VCG) is a Chinese photo and media agency. Established in 2000, it is a supplier of stock multimedia content to the commercial media industry. VCG is currently the largest stock image and media footage provider in China and thi ...
acquired Corbis in 2016.


References


Further reading

*Susanne Mendack: ''Schatzkammer der Fotografie: das legendäre Bettmann-Archiv''. Düsseldorf: Feymedia, 2009. *Monika Idems:
Bettmann-Archiv - Schatzkammer der Fotografie
- Review in ''WAZ'', 20. Dez. 2009, with sample images *Sarah Boxer:

" New York Times, April 15, 2001.


External links

* {{Authority control Photo archives in the United States 1936 establishments in the United States