AUSTIN, TX (February 2, 2010) – "We were all sworn to secrecy," Magnum Photos photojournalist Eli Reed said when asked about the iconic photography agency moving their entire collection of nearly 200,000 photographic prints from their cramped offices in Manhattan to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin in two semi-trailer trucks.
"No one was allowed to say anything about it!"
Reed knew about it because the folks at Magnum asked him to photograph the trucks arriving in Austin and being unloaded in December, he said. As a Magnum member since 1988 who's covered stories about social justice and war all over the world, he's now a clinical professor of photojournalism at the University of Texas.
Magnum's director Mark Lubell told The New York Times that he was nervous about the cargo's journey from New York to Texas and that he tracked "every single step of the trip" using GPS technology.
Founded in 1947 by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, David Seymour, and William Vandivert, Magnum has occupied offices all over New York City. Magnum's members hold an annual meeting of the cooperative each year, and three years ago members voted for the director to start looking for a buyer with the aim of using the profits to modernize the agency.
In Austin, computer mogul Michael S. Dell's private investment firm purchased the Magnum archive, and MSD Capital reached an agreement with the Ransom Center to place the collection there for digital scanning, study, and exhibition for at least the next five years. Dell is the chairman and CEO of Dell Inc. The co-managing partners of MSD Capital for Dell are John C. Phelan and Glenn R. Fuhrman. The Ransom Center is a fitting location since it is also home to the world's first photograph (taken in 1828 by Joseph Nicephone Niepce) and has substantial holdings in photojournalism and fine arts.
The price of the sale has not been disclosed.
Magnum's collection of photographs represent more than 50 years of the world's history as seen by an elite and distinguished collection of photographers. In the time since Magnum decided to begin digitizing their archive and make a move toward having a more serious Web presence they've been able to scan less than half of their images, Lubell said.
With the collection now in Austin, the Ransom Center said it plans to catalogue the pictures and to finish scanning every image and to organize exhibits centered on themes from various parts of the collection. In the collection are photographs by Magnum members such as Elliott Erwitt, Leonard Freed, Bruce Davidson, Rene Burri, Eve Arnold, Dennis Stock and more than 80 others.
Magnum currently represents 51 members and the estates of 13 former members, and according to the deal with MSD Capital the photographers and the estates will retain the rights to their own images.
"This is a singularly valuable collection in the history of photography," Thomas F. Staley, director of the Ransom Center, said in a statement released today. "It brings together some of the finest photojournalists of the profession and spans more than a half century of contributions to the medium. We are delighted to make these remarkable materials accessible to researchers and students."
