Rogers Photo Archive Acquires Famed Documentarian David Hoffman's Film Archive

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark., July 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rogers Photo Archive in North Little Rock, Arkansas announced today that it has purchased the film archives of award-winning documentary filmmaker, David Hoffman.

David Hoffman, one of America's veteran documentary filmmakers, has been capturing history for five decades. The Hoffman Space Archive is a comprehensive collection of rare twentieth century, video and audio resources documenting early space exploration. The archive's video content totals over 1900 hours and comprises NASA, Cold War and Americana material. This historical archive includes family home movies from Astronauts and Hoffman's personal interviews with key space-race players, such as John Glenn, Alan Shepard, and Buzz Aldrin. "I have spent my career collecting this material from many sources – Russian and American," said David Hoffman. "I am honored to see it become part of the Rogers collection."

The purchase also includes Hoffman's Making Sense of the Sixties, a 6-part primetime television series compiled from 1400 film hours of documentary style material. The series examines era-shaping events of the 1960s, such as the Vietnam War, assassinations of JFK and MLK, and the moon landing. Other complete documentaries acquired include: How Hitler Lost the War, a primetime special made from 25 hours of original footage; Sing Sing Thanksgiving, a 1974 film documenting a B.B. King concert at the Sing Sing prison; and Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends, a 1973 television special highlighting the legendary folk singer. Rogers Photo Archive will now own copyright to never before seen footage of the Central High crisis; President Kennedy; and original concert footage of Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, B.B. King and Joan Baez.

John Rogers, owner of the Rogers Photo Archive, has the largest collection of historic images in the world and has previously acquired entire photographic archives of publications, such as the Seattle Times, Boston Herald, Chicago Sun Times, Denver Post, Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, St. Petersburg Times and Sporting News. In 2009, the Rogers Photo Archive obtained the complete film archive of The George Michael Sports Machine, a syndicated Sunday-night sports highlights show, which aired from 1984 until 2007. George Michael was known for his energetic personality and entertaining sport news and interviews. Rogers now houses every episode of the Sports Machine, including raw-footage interviews from Michael Jordan to Dale Earnhardt and game action highlights.

Rogers began leasing images in 2000 and has recently begun expanding the Rogers Photo Archive to forge partnerships with publications and photographers. Later this year, a new venture is scheduled to be launched by Rogers called ArgentaImages.com. The website's main purpose will be to license rights to photographs and film footage to businesses and consumers worldwide. Many of the historic images and film clips in the Rogers Photo Archive, including the Hoffman and Sports Machine material, will be available for the first time ever by an image licensing agency.

CONTACT: John Rogers 501-414-0266

SOURCE Rogers Photo Archive