Probablement la collection la plus importante d'images des XIXe et XXe siècles, les archives Bettmann ont pour origine les 25.000 négatifs que O.L. Bettmann emporta lorsqu'il quitta l'Allemagne pour les Etats-Unis en 1935. L'ouvrage rassemble 176 images provenant de ce fonds et présente le travail réalisé pour organiser et préserver les 11 millions de photographies qui le constituent. ©Electre 2024

It was 1935 when Dr. Otto Ludwig Bettmann emigrated from Nazi Germany to the USA, laden down with two trunks full of negatives. The contents of two steamer trunks laid the foundation of what must be the most comprehensive compilation of images from the 19^th and 20^th centuries in the world today.

For many years, famous icons of photography were stored in Bettmann's New York apartment near Times Square - today, the archive with its more than eleven million exhibits is preserved in an abandoned limestone quarry that was turned into a high-security storage facility located in western Pennsylvania.

Bettmann died in 1989 at the old age of 94. But his archive lives on, stored in a vault with a floor space of about 1,000 square yards at temperatures of 45 F with a relative humidity of 35 percent. Exactly these conditions are required to halt the deterioration of these sensitive photographs, colour transparencies and negatives.

While the images of the Bettmann Archive provide an insight into history, they have become part of history themselves. These snap-shots capture events - major and minor - that happened during the last one and a half centuries as well as the people who took part in them, and render them immortal. This archive stored it all : world exhibitions, Olympic Games, rock concerts, film stars and legendary musicians, historical buildings and scientific achievements.

Today, Bill Gates, the current owner of the Bettmann Archive, goes to enormous lengths to ensure that this photographic legacy is preserved for future generations.

This opulent coffee-table book presents a photographic cross-section of two centuries and provides an informative insight into this Photography Treasure.

A mine located at the centre of Pennsylvania is home to a Photography Treasure : the legendary Bettmann Archive.

The contents of two steamer trunks that Otto Ludwig Bettmann took with him on his journey across the ocean from Germany to the USA in 1935 laid the foundation of what must be the most comprehensive compilation of images from the 19^th and 20^th centuries in the world today. When he started out with more than 25,000 negatives, Bettmann was driven by his hope to create something of everlasting value.

This opulent coffee-table book presents iconic photographs from Bettmann's archive and describes the ongoing efforts at managing, itemising and preserving this collection of more than eleven million spectacular images for future generations. Stored for eternity - or at least for the next 5,000 years.