Eastman House gets Steichen gift

Kathryn Quinn Thomas//March 21, 2001//

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The estate of famed photographer Edward Steichen has given the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film 8,000 of his negatives and prints.
Steichen, considered the country’s greatest photographers, died in 1973. Steichen’s estate is managed by his widow, Joanna Steichen. This gift, considered priceless, enhances an initial donation in 1981 of 5,000 of Steichen’s items.
The recent donation includes 1,200 three-color glass-plate separation negatives, eight rare autochromes, 3,500 8-by-10 negatives and proof prints, along with biographical material including the Presidential Medal of Freedom bestowed on Steichen by President Lyndon Johnson. The collection includes celebrity portraits of luminaries such as Fred Astaire, Winston Churchill, Amelia Earhart, Dorothy Parker, Shirley Temple, and Frank Lloyd Wright.
“This gift is at the very core of our culture as Americans, for depicted in these images are men and women who represent the ideals and beliefs of our nation, the people who created our culture during the first half of the 20th century,” said Anthony Bannon, director of the Eastman House. “And here are their images and often the records of how these images were created and used.”