EASTMAN KODAK RESCUES PHOTOGRAPHY MUSEUM

The Eastman Kodak Co. has come to the rescue of the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House in Rochester, N.Y.

The renowned collection was in danger of being transferred to the Smithsonian Institution, or elsewhere.

In a surprise announcement, the board of trustees of the beleaguered museum revealed that Eastman Kodak Co. had agreed to donate proceeds of the sale of its San Francisco office building, valued between $13 million and $15 million, to the care and preservation of the photo archive. To receive the gift, the trustees must raise enough money to build a new facility or renovate an existing structure that must be located in Rochester. No deadline for raising the funds was announced.

“We are absolutely delighted,” museum director Robert Mayer said in a telephone interview. “This will allow us to keep the collection in Rochester and care for it here. The gift should provide for a $15-million endowment, which will yield $1.5 million for upkeep of the building and maintenance of the collection. Now our challenge is to raise $6 million for a building.”

The museum, chartered in 1947 by the board of regents of the New York state Department of Education, is located in the former home of George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Co. The museum’s huge collection has long since outgrown the stately 1905 home, which is not properly equipped to maintain a valuable archive.

The building has gradually become more of a warehouse, with less and less space for scholars and the public. Its vast collection includes 600,000 photographic prints and negatives, 10,000 pieces of photographic equipment, 5,000 motion pictures, 3 million film publicity stills and a 25,000-volume research library.

Eastman Kodak has been the dominant supporter of the museum over the years (contributing about $1 million annually), but the museum’s financial needs have outpaced the company’s original commitment. In recent months, one solution proposed was transferring the archive to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

Talk of moving the collection caused a vigorous protest in Rochester. A consortium of the University of Rochester, Rochester Institute of Technology, the State College of New York at Brockport and Photo Archives Belong in Rochester (a community group) was organized to keep the photography collection in the city.