CIFHA Foundation (Argentine Historical Photographic Research Center) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of Latin American photography, based in Buenos Aires. We hold more than one million documents, from 1826 to the present day, of some of the most relevant photographers in history. For a decade we have been working on the archive of the American H.G. Olds (Sandusky, Ohio, 1868 - Buenos Aires, 1943), one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century.
H.G. Olds was one of Latin America's foremost photographers at the turn of the 20th century. His images illustrated books, magazines and postcards all over the world, showing Argentinian culture, customs and traditions. His archive consists of more than 3,000 documents, from large-format glass plate negatives of the countryside and the cities to his manuscripts as a photography student in Detroit. This cultural heritage was almost lost due to poor preservation over 80 years.
Our first objective is to guarantee the building conditions that will ensure the preservation of the original documents of H.G. Olds for decades to come. Then, with a group of interdisciplinary technicians, we will work on the cataloging, digitisation and study of the collection in order to produce knowledge about his figure. Its bilingual access will be free from our digital platform for everyone. We will produce film pieces, books, research articles and exhibitions to promote social values.
The archive of H.G. Olds is of vital importance for understanding the complexity of our culture and the relations between the countries of the region. Its study and dissemination will create ties of cooperation in Latin America. Olds' photographed in the USA, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. The free and open access to all this content will be an inexhaustible source of knowledge. The production of cultural pieces resulting from this project will influence different generations.
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