BookBrunch - Where every picture really does tell a story

"What we really are - what we really have to market - is our unique access to probably the most important collection of still and moving images," explains Merullo, his Boston vowels inevitably reminding you of JFK. "There are other collections - Time Life, the Library of Congress

The national library of the United States, which offers a massive amount of information easily available, including details about copyright registration. http://lcweb.loc.gov/homepage/lchp.html

- but they're not collections of collections." Getty, on the other hand, traces its origins back to 1937 and Sir Edward Hulton's Picture Post, which, like America's Life, commissioned work from a stable of talented photographers. Hulton himself became increasingly interested in the archive he was amassing and began actively to acquire others, many of them created (like publishing houses) by European émigrés. Sixty years later, the Hulton Collection was sold to Getty Images

Describes itself as 'the world's leading provider of images, film and digital services'. Material available includes the Hulton Archive.

, thus setting off a chain of events that led to further acquisition, digitisation, consolidation and development.