United Archives: Handelsblatt Publishing 400,000 image archive scan underway

PAN reader – Frank Golomb – owner at photo library United Archives sent us a note on his latest stock photo project:
In January 1998, the German Handelsblatt Publishing House handed over the analog image archive, which had been in existence since 1946, to the German Historical Museum in Berlin and transferred “ownership of the paper” to the museum.

The archive illustrates 43 years of economic history internationally, seen through the eyes of a large number of photographers, and forms a self-contained cultural asset and a unique collection and documentation of the post-war period.In 2018 United Archives took over this archive treasure, which is kept in 18 double containers.
By the end of 2021, the complete inventory will be processed in a closed database, the first 100,000 motifs have been scanned, and in the end it will be around 400,000. At least 10,000 motifs are produced every month. The respective authors – if known – are recorded in the metadata, so that later it is also possible to obtain usage rights.“Of course I hope that the respective rights holders agree to an extended use and that we can open the database at some point.

“I suspect that the majority of these photos, which are up to 74 years old, have never been digitized and therefore result in a win-win situation for both sides and this archive closes a gap, also in documentary terms,” says Frank Golomb, managing partner of the UA. “We will contact the respective authors and offer a cooperation based on this archive. If there is consent, the individual assigned bundles can be immediately activated for the publishing landscape.An important part is early press work in order to reach as many authors as possible.So if someone reads this message and has supplied the Handelsblatt Verlag with photographs in the last century, I am already looking forward to a message. “The photo of the production of the 10,000th VW Beetle was taken in 1946 and was probably one of the first to be kept in the archive.