Before 1949 several major photography collections had been
assembled at the Eastman Kodak Research Laboratory, where their
initial purpose was to support research in photographic science.
The Eder Collection purchased by Kodak in 1922 from the prolific
Viennese photo-historian, scientist, and teacher, Josef Maria Eder,
and the Cromer Collection, purchased in 1939 from the widow of
Parisian lawyer and collector Gabirel Cromer, formed the nucleus
of the still photography collection that was later transferred to the
home of George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Company.
(At his death in 1932 George Eastman had willed his home to the
University of Rochester, which subsequently deeded it to the newly
incorporated photography museum.)
Photography collections contain more than 400,000 prints and
negatives; substantial holdings of 19th-century French and
American photographs, including the world's most extensive
daguerreotype collections; major 20th-century holdings, including
substantial collections of work by Ansel Adams, Margaret Bourke-
White, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Lewis W. Hine, Gertrude
Kasebier, and Edward Steichen; and representative collections of
commercial, scientific, and contemporary photography.
Description of the Museum
GEORGE EASTMAN HOUSE
PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTIONS
Last Modified: Monday, 20-Oct-2008 16:36:47 EDT