The George Eastman Museum has 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, and 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.”
Although not everything in the George Eastman Museum’s collection is available online, more than a quarter of a million objects are currently searchable by artist, collection, classification, and date. New objects from the collection are being added to the database on a weekly basis.
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 the museum’s 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.
About the George Eastman Museum’s Photography Collection
The photography collection at the George Eastman Museum, among the oldest and best in the world, comprises more than 400,000 photographic objects dating 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, includes work by more than eight thousand photographers, and continues to expand.
About the George Eastman Museum’s Technology Collection
The George Eastman Museum holds the world’s leading collection of photographic and cinematographic technology. Consisting 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.
About the George Eastman Legacy Collection
The George Eastman Legacy Collection comprises objects and records relating to the life and career of George Eastman. The collection consists of Eastman’s restored historic home, furnishings, decorative arts, and related artifacts, as well as substantial holdings of his personal and business correspondence, private library, photographs, negatives, films, and related personal items.
About the George Eastman Museum’s Moving Image Collection
The George Eastman Museum 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 now comprises more than 28,000 titles spanning the entire history of world 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, including letters, scripts, musical scores, lobby cards, posters, film stills, and celebrity portraits.
To search the museum’s online collection database, visit eastman.org/collections-online.
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