A plan for the Johnson Publishing Co. photo archives is taking shape

A nonprofit consortium consisting of the Getty Research Institute, the J. Paul Getty Trust, the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution has taken another step toward preserving the photo archives of the Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago. 

A press release published by the group indicates that the consortium has created an Advisory Council that will "inform the preservation and future use of the historic photographic collection," which contains some 3.35 million negatives and slides, 983,000 photographs, 166,000 contact sheets, and 9,200 audio and visual recordings. The collection, according to the group, is "the most significant collection illustrating African American life in the 20th century."