George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film today announced a major gift to the museum — the historic archive of Technicolor dating from 1915 to 1974. The donation includes rare cameras, documents and drawings, photographs, printers and processing machines, corporate records, and other important materials that represent the history of Technicolor’s groundbreaking contributions to motion pictures. This collection joins the Eastman House’s current Technicolor holdings of early research papers, technology, and the world’s largest collection of Technicolor camera negatives, including The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind.
“Many of the iconic films of the 20th century were photographed and presented in Technicolor, and this archive is the cornerstone piece in the study of color in motion pictures,” said Dr. Anthony Bannon, the Ron and Donna Fielding Director of George Eastman House, the country’s third largest film archive and world’s largest technology collection. “The importance of this collection and monumental donation cannot be overstated.”
Technicolor, a trademark for a series of color film processes, was established close to a century ago with the goal of bringing “natural” color to motion pictures. Technicolor has played a significant role in the film industry, progressing through several color transfer methods. From 1927 to 1974, Technicolor films were the industry standard, with the year 1932 to 1955 marked as the “Glorious Age of Technicolor,” featuring the three-strip dye transfer system used in the production of many classic Technicolor films.
The collection has been successfully moved from Los Angeles to Rochester, NY.
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