Olan Mills, Inc. was a privately owned American company founded in 1932 by Olan Mills Sr. and Mary Mills which was headquartered in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

. It provided

portrait photography Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective Photographic lighting, lighting, Painted photography backdrops, backdrops, and poses. A portr ...

and church directories through its two main corporate divisions: Olan Mills Portrait Studios and Olan Mills Church Division. Its

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

division, based in

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

and with numerous studios based in

Mothercare Mothercare plc is a global brand for products for parents and young children. The company's shares are listed on AIM in London. Mothercare was founded in the United Kingdom in 1961, and specialized in products for expectant mothers and in ge ...

stores, stopped trading on December 26, 2008. That was in preparation for the firm being placed into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

. On November 9, 2011,

Lifetouch Lifetouch Inc. is an American-based photography company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Its Canadian operations is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba and the company also has facilities in Nevada, Indiana, and Ohio. I ...

Inc. announced that it had purchased the Olan Mills photography business, Olan Mills Church Directories and Olan Mills Portrait Studios, its corporate functions, and the production operations in Chattanooga. In January 2012, Lifetouch announced the closing of two of Olan Mills's three facilities in Chattanooga with 383 job losses. In 2019, the third facility closed costing an additional 150 jobs.

References

Photography companies of the United States Companies based in Chattanooga, Tennessee Design companies established in 1932 1932 establishments in Tennessee Design companies disestablished in 2011 2011 disestablishments in Tennessee 2011 mergers and acquisitions Publishing companies established in 1932 Publishing companies disestablished in 2011 {{US-media-company-stub