Portland Press Herald Still-Film Negatives Collection

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 Company era. The Gannett family founded the newspaper in 1921.

The discarded piles of film were 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, and conserved (and the images are not yet available to purchase). 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.

The full story of the salvage and accession of the film can be seen in this article, Keeping Time (Yankee Magazine Feb-Mar 2022)

Very special thanks to Portland Room archival processing volunteers for their brilliant support work: Robert Blackwell, Candace Henriksson, Thomas L. Gaffney, Yinong Liu, and Elaine Thornton.

Please direct all queries to: portlandroom@portlib.org