Google putting LIFE photo archive online

NEW YORK, USA: Time Inc announced that Google was putting online the entire collection of photos from the legendary but now defunct LIFE  magazine including some of the most iconic images of the 20th century.

Time said access to LIFE's photo archive, a total of more than 10 million images, would be available on a new hosted service from theInternet search giant at ages.google.com/hosted/life.

The images from LIFE, a Time subsidiary, can also be found by conducting a search on Google.com or through Google Image Search.

The collection includes pictures from renowned photojournalists such as Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, Gordon Parks and W. Eugene Smith.

The LIFE photo archive also includes the Zapruder film of the assassination of President John F Kennedy, The Mansell Collection from London and Hugo Jaeger's pictures of Nazi-era Germany from 1937-1944.

Time said 97 per cent of the photographs have never been seen by the public.

"Millions of images have been scanned and made available on Google Image Search today with all 10 million images to be available in the coming months," Time said in a statement.

"LIFE will now reach a broader audience and engage them online with the incredible depth and breadth of the LIFE Photo Archive from serious world events, to Hollywood celebrities to whimsical photographs." LIFE president Andy Blau said.

R.J. Pittman, director of product management at Google, said "bringing millions of never-before-seen offline images online aligns with Google's mission to organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Time said the photos are available for free for personal and research purposes. The copyright and ownership of all images remains with Time.

In September, Time and the Getty Images photo service announced the launch early next year of a new website, LIFE.com, featuring photos from the LIFE archives and Getty Images.