Rochester, NY—The George Eastman Museum launched a new platform that allows public online access to more than 250,000 objects from its world-class collections at eastman.org/collections-online.
Objects from the museum’s photography, technology and George Eastman Legacy collections are now searchable. More objects from the museum’s vast holdings are being added on an ongoing basis. Objects from the moving image collection will become accessible in the coming months.
“The George Eastman Museum has a long tradition of making our unparalleled collections—encompassing several million objects in the fields of photography, cinema, and photographic and cinematographic technology, as well as objects related to George Eastman—physically accessible to scholars, curators, and the public through our study centers and library, traveling exhibitions, and object loans,” said Bruce Barnes, Ron and Donna Fielding Director, George Eastman Museum.
“Online access to our extensive collections will transform the public’s understanding of our holdings and facilitate new forms of collaboration with creators, curators, scholars, and collectors. Whether you are conducting research on a particular subject or simply interested in seeing what works we have by your favorite photographer, you can now do so much more easily.”
The museum recently announced a grant award of $148,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to support the cataloging and digitizing of its Gabriel Cromer collection. Donated to the museum by Eastman Kodak Company, this is one of the seminal collections of early French photography and is considered the most important collection of such materials outside of France. The Gabriel Cromer collection will be fully accessible online by 2019.
“The launch of our online collection database has been truly transformative for the George Eastman Museum, allowing the world access to explore and discover the myriad wonders of our collection, enhancing the museum’s profile, our contribution to scholarship, and our collaborative capabilities,” added Barnes.
George Eastman Museum’s Photography Collection
The photography collection at the George Eastman Museum, among the oldest in the world, comprises more than 400,000 photographic objects. They date from the introduction of the medium in 1839 through to the present day. It encompasses works made in all major photographic processes, from daguerreotype to digital, and includes work by more than eight thousand photographers.
The George Eastman Museum’s Technology Collection consists of more than 16,000 artifacts from the earliest days of photography to today’s digital devices. The collection contains all of the equipment necessary for photographic image making, as well as printed documentation related to the business, manufacturing, and marketing of the photographic and motion picture industries.
The George Eastman Legacy Collection comprises objects and records relating to the life and career of George Eastman. It consists of Eastman’s restored historic home, furnishings, decorative arts and related artifacts. It also includes holdings of his personal and business correspondence, private library, photographs, negatives, films and related personal items.
George Eastman Museum’s Moving Image Collection
This collection preserves and promotes the art of cinema in all its forms, from the mainstream to the avant-garde. Founded by the museum’s first curator of film, James Card (1915–2000), the collection comprises more than 28,000 titles. They span the history of cinema, from the early experiments of Thomas Edison and the Lumière brothers to the present. The Moving Image Stills, Posters, and Paper Collection comprises approximately three million objects. They consist of letters, scripts, musical scores, lobby cards, posters, film stills and celebrity portraits. eastman.org
