Pixiq

The world's oldest photography museum is in the middle of one of the biggest photo auctions in recent history. The George Eastman House has spent the last two years gathering more than 300 donated items that are expected to rake in upward of one million dollars. Quite a beneficial arrangement, as the Eastman House's collection itself remains intact, and the funds raised will go toward ensuring the museum's continued success through the challenging economic climate. From the press release...

The donations have come from more than 200 donors, spanning 160 years of photography, with work dating from 1850 to 2010. Types of photographs include daguerreotypes, salted paper prints, heliogravures, photogravures, carbon, platinum, gelatin silver, dye transfer, and archival pigment prints. Subjects of the featured photographs include Marilyn Monroe, Frido Kahlo, John F. and Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, Martin Luther King Jr., Coco Chanel, Auguste Rodin, and New York City sites, plus a Kodak Colorama art-directed by Norman Rockwell.

The main day of the auction took place yesterday, October 4^th at Sotheby's in New York. $486,000 has already been raised, with a silver gelatin print called Consciousness by Paul Everard Outerbridge, Jr. taking the cake at $64,000. Not bad for a day's work.

And there's still plenty left to auction off; you can view the whole catalog here (pdf), and join in the bidding here.

It's a seriously impressive offering, regardless of whether you intend to make a bid. But if you do have the cash, not only can you get your hands on a prestigious piece of photographic history, but you can also rest assured that you're supporting a noble institution.

This benefit will help ensure continued growth of resources that foster research and study into one of the world's most historically significant collections.