Since 2008 we acquire archives of press photo agencies no longer operating in the market. Additionally we obtained analog photo collections earmarked for destruction and estates of photographers, who had sold their work through photo agencies that have since ceased to exist.

Nevertheless, the quality of these works still exists today, capturing the 'zeitgeist' of a time gone by, and it is of a growing historical and cultural importance.

We digitize these works and make them accessible online.

With eight press photo archives and many more assets to our name, we are now looking at a combined stock of several million images.

We can proudly say our archives are truly united in United Archives 

Through years of cooperation in and cooperation with press and image agencies and the latest knowledge of phototechnology is the basis of our experience and give the directive for the digitization of our archives. 

We focus on the digitization of image archives that we have acquired with all rights. We choose out of an estimated 10 million picture templates daily. We are always interested in images and archives, which are historical and culturally from important.We are happy when we are approached to this topic, as well as to offer press-photographic repertoires or image archives. 

Our headquarters with all workstations is located in the historical heart of Cologne. Our archives are stored around this city. 

In addition to our own holdings, we also represent partners from Germany and abroad who round off our content. 

We have largely entrusted the distribution to the users of our photos, especially publishing houses, to major national and international sales partners. 

We are a founding member of www.photoconsortium.net, an international organization dedicated to the cultural heritage of photography. Photoconsortium has emerged from an EU-funded digitization project, www.europeana-photography.eu, which has been successfully completed in 2015 and to which we have contributed more than 40,000 digitized images. 

We are also a member of the Federal Association of professional image providers www.BVPA.org. 

Questions? Call us or register. We are looking forward to your contact. 

Your United Archives Team