Source

Yankee Magazine

Date

1-2022

Additional Date Information

January-February issue, 2022

Volume Number

86:1

Pages

94-101

Abstract

Article describing the salvaging of the Portland Press Herald's discarded "photo morgue" of still negatives by Abraham A. Schechter, Archivist of the Portland Public Library, who accessioned the film for the Library, and immediately began the comprehensive process of organizing and creating a photographic archive for the Library and future public access.

The Portland Press Herald Still-Film Negatives Collection consists of 70 years (ca.1936 - 2005) of primary photographic images, in approximately 400 linear feet. The collection is made up entirely of negatives; there are no prints. Formats include 5x7", 4x5", 120, and 35mm still film, all taken by Portland Press Herald photographers, during the Guy Gannett Publishing era. The Gannett family founded the newspaper in 1921. The discarded collection was salvaged from the Gannett Building (390 Congress Street) by the Portland Public Library's archivist Abraham A. Schechter, and officially accessioned by the Library from the Portland Press Herald in December 2009. The collection is owned by the PPL, including the copyrights, and is currently in the process of being arranged, described, indexed, conserved, and digitized. The depth of substance within this collection provides an extraordinary spectrum of real-time documentation of the many-faceted life of the city of Portland through the 20th century.

See Additional Files link (below) for the scanned article.

Subjects

Portland, Me., Portland Public Library, Archives, Photography, Guy Gannett Publishing Company, Preservation

YankeeMag-JAN-FEB_2022SM.pdf (2296 kB)
Yankee Magazine Jan-Feb 2022 article

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