New York, NY—Shutterstock, Inc., launched the Vault, the company’s archival collection with more than 50 million assets across photo and video. Moreover, its content covers royals, film, music, sports, wars, politics as well as celebrities. Shutterstock announced the Vault is “one of the largest photo and video archives in the world that provides a comprehensive chronicle of the 20th Century.”
“For the first time in six years, we are delighted to open the Vault, officially providing Shutterstock’s customers with unparalleled access to the best historical content across a wide range of categories,” said Jamie Elden, chief revenue officer at Shutterstock.
“Archival photography and footage not only preserve our history but also add color and credibility to storytelling in an authentic and cost-effective way; they provide immense value and a wide range of new stories for documentary, film and television producers.”
The Vault
The physical location of the Vault is an Iron Mountain facility in London. From there, a significant number of photographs are digitized and made available on Shutterstock Editorial. In addition, the Vault houses archival content through a rich blend of Shutterstock-owned collections, as well as strategic alliances with world-class global partners, including the AP, Associated News and ITV.
The Vault is managed by Greg Watts at Shutterstock, who leads a team of archivists that catalog and preserve the content. “I started my career 29 years ago at Rex as a filing clerk in the physical archive in East London. I am incredibly excited to make this very special collection accessible to the wider Shutterstock community,” said Watts. “There are images that have not been seen for nearly 20 years, waiting to be discovered. It’s truly an A-Z of more than a century of world events and stories.”
Furthermore, its offerings include the Rex Features collection, which chronicles historical moments. It includes iconic images of the British Royal family, Ronald Reagan’s transition from film star to politician, as well as Dezo Hoffman’s archive. Hoffman photographed musical icons, such as Sinatra in recording studios and Marvin Gaye appearing on “Ready Steady Go.”
Other Key Collections
In addition, Shutterstock houses the ITV archive. What’s more, it is the exclusive distribution partner for this enormous catalogue of TV stills. The collection contains classics such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Spitting Image, The Prisoner, Thunderbirds and Upstairs Downstairs.
Other Shutterstock-owned collections include the Berliner archive. Founded in 1973, it covers celebrity events in Los Angeles, New York and Las Vegas. Additionally, it hosts the Picture Library. For 50 years, Alan Davidson captured some of the world’s most prolific people as well as memorialized countless historical moments. Among his iconic images are Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger dancing and a teenage Lady Diana Spencer.
Also offered by Shutterstock is the Harry Myers Collection. Starting his career in the 40s and shooting for almost six decades, Myers took photographs of arguably every major film star at London film premieres. 
What’s more, Shutterstock also hosts the Art archive. This is a rare and extensive offering from the world’s leading fine art galleries, museums as well as private collections. It covers every aspect of the creative arts and world culture, from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics dating back to 2500 BC to Buzz Aldrin’s first steps on the moon.
Shutterstock
Directly and through its group subsidiaries, Shutterstock’s comprehensive collection includes high-quality licensed photographs, vectors, illustrations, videos as well as music. Working with its growing community of more than one million contributors, Shutterstock adds hundreds of thousands of images each week. Notably, it currently has more than 350 million images and more than 20 million video clips available.
The company also owns Bigstock, a value-oriented stock media offering; Shutterstock Studios, an end- to-end custom creative shop; Offset, a high-end image collection; PremiumBeat, a curated royalty-free music library; and Shutterstock Editorial, a premier source of editorial images and videos for the world’s media.
