Welcome to
Brown Brothers is the nation's oldest stock photo agency, established in New York in 1904. We have over hundreds of thousands of photographs and illustrations from prehistory to present with special emphasis on early New York, immigrants, royalty, slums, political movements, rural and urban life, wars, early technology, disasters, politicians, sports, inventors, science, American fads, and celebrities. Our images are used by publishers, producers, museums, and advertising agencies worldwide. Major textbook and encyclopedia publishers have been using Brown Brothers images for over a century.
In 110 years, it has changed ownership only through inheritance.
Begun by Arthur and Charles Brown, its staff eventually grew to twelve of the city's best phototgraphers. While the world's greatest city, New York, was being built and heading upward with one skyscraper after another, so were the daredevil photographers of Brown Brothers, giving people a rare view that few would ever see for themselves. Yet assignments did not stop at the city line, as news photographs were taken up and down the Northeast, from our nation's capital to New England.
The graphic photographs taken by Brown Brothers in 1911 of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory fire helped to change labor and fire laws forever. Brown Brothers is the only company that photographed the fire and its aftermath, that remains in business today. Ironically, one year earlier a Brown Brothers' intern, while on a different assignment, had taken what is considered the greatest fire engine photograph of all time.
Though Brown Brothers was one of the earliest to shift to film in 1920, it has kept its glass plate negatives. Consequently, Brown Brothers owns one of the largest collections in the world of such original negatives under one roof. Plus Brown Brothers owns negatives and color transparencies of early American history and of movie stars. Through the decades, Brown Brothers also acquired other worthy collections.
Brown Brothers was not Thomas Edison's exclusive photographer, but many of the earliest photographs of Edison are from Brown Brothers.
The collection has a computerized index. Today, all business transactions, including transmittal of the images, are via the Internet.
The collection contains unique photographs and illustrations with special emphasis on:
Early New York
Royalty
Slums
Political movements
The Great Depression
Rural and urban life
Early technology
Politicians (especially Presidents)
Sports and athletes
Inventors
Science
Transportation
American fads
U.S. Navy ships
Tragedies at sea (including the Titanic and Lusitanis)
Night clubs and restaurants
Organized crime
Cities of the 50 states
Celebrities
In the collection are extensive sub-collections of:
The Golden Age of Baseball
Paintings
Nations of the world
Yachts
Animals
Flowers
Greek and Roman history
High Society
Prohibition
Religions
Music
Fashion
Military history
Farming and agriculture
Industrialists
Movie stills
College and universities
Terrorism
Disasters
Also included are:
Early American History
Early theatre (stage, burlesque and vaudeville)
The Olympic Games
Immigration (especially Ellis Island)
Entertainers
Authors
Early aviation (including Wright Brothers and Lindbergh)
Women's history (particularly the Suffrage Movement)
Wars (expecially the American Civil War, WWI and II, Russian Revolution and Korean Conflict)
We hope that we can be of service to you. Please e-mail us at Brownbrothersusa@aol.com or phone: 570-689-2700.
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