History of Ansco
Ansco name was the name Anthony Company transformed to after its merger with the Scovill Company. Anthony Company or E. Anthony Company was founded in 1842 by Edward Anthony as a shop that sells photography products in Broadway, New York City. The founder, Edward Anthony, was one of the first people who had education regarding daguerreotype photography techniques; however, they decided that selling photography products instead of having a photography studio would be more profitable. This was the first shop in America to retail photography products; hence Edvard Anthony, also known as the pioneer of the Photographic Business. [1] Ansco company took its name from the 1901 merger with Scovill Manufacturing Company. In 1928 the company was sold to the Agfa, a German company whose corporation was renamed Agfa-Ansco; hence, Agfa- Ansco was created. Agfa was part of IC Farben a German Company. Eleven years after, in 1939, it was combined with another Farben subsidiary, the General Aniline and & Film Corporation (GAF). While the business was thriving the World War II, more specifically, pearl harbor changed the approach towards the German-based company. After pearl harbor, the German-born administrative officers were removed; this included Leopold Lecker[2]. Until 1965, the alien property commission seized the company to give back to GAF later again. The company became Ansco company first, later Afga-Ansco, and in the end, GAF before it closed its activities in 1977. Eastman Kodak Company purchased the firm in 1998, but it never operated and closed entirely. [3]