Ansco was the descendent of the E. & H. T. Anthony
Company, which supplied photographic equipment prior to and during the
Civil War. Anthony merged with the photographic division of Scovill
a manufacturer of camera equipment. The new company was called
Ansco.Ansco supplied much photo equipment to the U.S. government during
World War One. In 1928 the company was purchased by Agfa of Germany
and was called Agfa Ansco . They manufactured a complete line
of both amateur and professional cameras from their Binghamton N.Y.
camerawork's, which was staffed by many craftsmen of German descent.
The Ansco amateur cameras later became collectors items. They had a
camera factory that made
both professional and amateur cameras of excellent quality.
In February 1944 Agfa Ansco ceased to exist, the company being
sized by the U.S. government under the Alien Properties Act. In
essence, the new boss was the U.S. Attorney General. During World
War II Ansco made amazing technical progress with a color
negative/positive process called Ansco Color, a color film that could be
processed by the user called Anscochrome, black and white photofinish
papers, printing papers, and new higher speed black and white films.
Ansco had won an Academy Award for their color film in the documentary
production Nanook of the North. The famous flag
raising photo on Iwo Jima by Mr. Rosenthal of the Associated Press was
taken on Ansco Superpan Press film pack film 4 x 5". (I met him in New York after the
War)
Prior to the war, formulas and techniques of film making were kept "top
secret" by the Agfa German scientists. The plant employees were
often not fully informed as to the techniques of their production.
A story told to me was: 'suddenly, the latest batches of black and
white film showed an amazing increase in film speed. No one could
understand it. After much research they found that the American cows
were eating mustard plants. The needed gelatin was made from these
cow hoofs, and they caused a complex chemical reaction, which later lead
to very much increased film sensitivity.' The German Scientists were
amazed. Ansco still had
many scientists and engineers of German decent when I was there.
When Ansco was on its own, there were remarkable technical advances made.
They made a $1,000,000 addition to their film plant (in 1944 dollars)
Ansco was a true, aggressive competitor to Eastman Kodak and finished
World War II in a very strong position.
After the War, Ansco was dominating in the professional photographic
markets. They continued to aggressively market amateur cameras and
film too. They had leads in photofinishing, school photography,
professional studio markets. However, the ownership by the
U.S. government began to put on the brakes. They could not increase
their manufacturing plant. Ansco also for some reason also missed
the photofinishing switch to color negative film, and color paper even
though they had pioneered the process. They concentrated on amateur
films such as Anscochrome/Printon positive/positive process, and
introduced fairly unsuccessful products such as high speed Super
Anscochrome, and 8mm Moviechrome motion picture film. Although still
very strong in professional markets, Ansco was being surpassed by Kodak.
The company was a Division of General Aniline and Film Corporation
(GAF) but later went into a slow decline, I believe due to a lack of
outside capital investment.
It was a wonderful time for young Bill Ryan as professional
publications, and advertising led me into all parts of the company,
learning much about photographic manufacture and marketing.
Management in their advertising department left much room for
responsibility, and rapid learning. Ansco was "a beautiful company "
and truly was a credit to its heritage as the oldest photographic
manufacturer in the United States. I regretfully departed to manage
another photo company leading me to a lengthy
career in the photo industry..........., but that's another
story.............
P.S. I have a complete bound set of
Ansconian magazines from the 1920's thru
World War II - I believe this to be the first true
photo magazine published in America
eg. Anthony's Photographic Journal. The
story of Ansco is the story of photography
in the United States.
Back to Ansco and Mathew
Brady's negatives
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