National Geographic's underground treasure trove.

[johnastovall]

"For many years there has been a kind of secret museum of photography under the streets of northwest Washington — an immense, windowless, climate-controlled archive with roots reaching back more than a century.

And since the early 1980s just one man, William C. Bonner, has been the museum’s primary denizen, becoming intimately familiar with its holdings: more than 11 million images richly documenting the life of the 20th century, from Uganda to the Mississippi Delta to remote lamaseries near the Mongolian border. “People don’t realize how beautiful this collection is,” Mr. Bonner said, “and it’s a shame, in a way, that I’m the only one who’s seen many of these pictures.”

National Geographic will soon be selling some of the prints on the fine art market.

Full Story with slide show a few of the images.

[Imagebuffet]

Wow, that's fantastic! I'm a big admirer of NG photography, and I love digging through old copy (including photos). I enjoy browsing through century-old NG.

[Cajungaltx]

And if they don't do something to preserve it... it'll be dust...

[johnastovall]

A windowless, climate control archive should be just fine for a 100 years or more. I would also assume they have done the standard deacidification treatments.