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

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

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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 '' Film Quarterly'' "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

stock photography Stock photography is the supply of photographs which are often licensed for specific uses. The stock photo industry, which began to gain hold in the 1920s, has established models including traditional macrostock photography, midstock photography, ...

company founded by

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...

. 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 National Underground Storage Facility, 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 Henry Wilhelm 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
IS&T'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 Collection of material from late 19th century to World War I in 1971, and the

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the ...

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— creati ...

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

External links

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

References

Further reading

External links