📸 Purchase High-Resolution Digital Images
👩🏫 Teachers and students — all GG Archives images can be used free for classroom projects, reports, and personal research. This page also gives you a behind-the-scenes look at how our archivist processes and preserves images, from raw scans to finished enhancements. For professionals (publishers, museums, and production companies), you’ll also find details on how to order high-resolution versions when needed.
The Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives provides access to high-resolution digital images for publishers, museums, film and television production companies, and educators who require professional-quality reproductions. While most of our collections are freely viewable online for research and personal use, licensing is available when a higher level of image fidelity is required.
Our high-resolution scans come directly from original archival materials such as passenger lists, immigration documents, brochures, menus, and other ephemera. These images have been licensed for documentary films, museum exhibitions, historical publications, and educational productions worldwide.
⭐ How to Request an Image
- Find the Image:
Browse ggarchives.com and locate the page containing the image you would like. - Email Your Request:
Send your request to pgjenvick@ggarchives.com including:- The URL of the page
- The GG Image ID # (a 10-character alphanumeric identifier)
- Payment:
Invoices are issued via PayPal, which also allows secure payment by major credit card.
💰 Typical Licensing Fees
Most researchers, students, and genealogists will never need to purchase an image. Medium-resolution versions remain free to view for educational and personal use. Licensing fees only apply when professional reproduction is required.
| Resolution | Typical Fee (USD) | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| 72 DPI (Reduced) | Free | Personal reference, classroom projects |
| 96 DPI | $10 | Web use, slides, presentations |
| 600 DPI | $75 | Books, journals, print brochures |
| 1200 DPI | $100 | Large-format print, museum displays |
| 2400 DPI | $500 | Film/TV production, archival reproduction |
Note: Licensing is handled on a case-by-case basis. Volume discounts or packages may be available for publishers and production companies.
⚠️ Copyright Responsibility
Important: The Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives does not certify or guarantee the copyright status of images in its collections. While many images are believed to be in the public domain due to age or U.S. government origin, it is the user’s responsibility to determine and secure any required permissions before use.
By purchasing images, you acknowledge that you assume all responsibility for copyright or related rights and agree to obtain any necessary clearances.
📜 Credit Line Requirement
All published uses of images must include the following credit line:
Courtesy of the Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives.
🔍 Need Assistance?
If you are uncertain which image best fits your project, or have questions about ordering, contact us at pgjenvick@ggarchives.com for personal assistance.
🏷️ Appraisal Services
The Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives does not provide appraisals. For valuation of privately held materials, please consult professional organizations such as:
- The American Society of Appraisers
- Local professionals featured on Antiques Roadshow
🎓 Educational Note: Why Archives Charge Licensing Fees
Students often ask: “If the images are already scanned, why does it cost money to license them?” Here’s a peek behind the scenes:
- Preservation Effort: Some images are scanned at very high resolution (600–2400 DPI). This requires careful handling of fragile originals, specialized scanning equipment, and significant digital storage space.
- Time Commitment: If an image is already in our archive, turnaround can be as quick as one hour. If it needs rescanning, it typically takes up to 72 hours (3 business days) to complete.
- File Size Limits: Ultra-high resolution scans (e.g., 2400 DPI) can only be done for smaller items such as postcards. Larger documents at that resolution would be impractical to process and store.
- Delivery: After payment (usually via PayPal), the file is uploaded to our server for secure download by the client.
- Typical Clients: Museums, film/TV production companies, and publishers needing unique images of rare ephemera for exhibits, documentaries, or books.
Most visitors and students will never need to purchase high-resolution images—our goal is open access. But when rare items are requested for professional use, these fees help cover the cost of preservation and scanning while keeping the collections available to everyone.
✍️ Essay Prompt for Students: The Hidden Work Behind Digital Images
Archivists and curators do more than store history — they actively preserve it. At the GG Archives, for example:
- Master images are preserved in TIFF format to ensure long-term quality.
- Derivatives (such as JPGs) are created for web display, since some formats like WebP do not display correctly in every environment (such as Dreamweaver).
- Raw scans are kept as a record, while enhanced versions are carefully adjusted to reflect how the item might have originally appeared — sometimes converting black-and-white scans into sepia tone to echo the style of their era.
- Every decision balances authenticity with accessibility, making the past vivid for researchers and the public alike.
Your Task: Write a short essay (500 words or less) answering these questions:
- Why is it important for archives to keep both raw scans and enhanced versions of documents or images?
- How do file formats (TIFF, JPG, WebP, etc.) affect the way history is preserved and shared?
- If you were an archivist, would you prioritize authenticity (keeping the document exactly as-is) or accessibility (making it easier for modern audiences to experience)? Why?
🔎 Behind the Scenes at the Archives
When you see an image on the GG Archives, you’re looking at the result of careful work:
- 📂 Master Scan: Created in TIFF format to preserve maximum detail.
- 🖼️ Derivative Copy: Converted to JPG for the website, since formats like WebP don’t display in all systems (ex: Dreamweaver).
- 🎨 Enhanced Version: Adjusted for clarity and color — sometimes with sepia tones to reflect the style of the era.
- 💡 For Sale: Clients (film studios, museums, publishers) almost always want the enhanced version, since it best represents how the item originally appeared.
👉 This process means you’re not just seeing a scan — you’re seeing a curated piece of history, ready for research, education, or professional production.
🎓 For Teachers & Students
While high-resolution scans are reserved for professional projects, students and teachers can freely use the web-sized images on our site for research, reports, or presentations. 📝✨
Classroom Activity Idea: Show students both a raw scan and an enhanced version of the same image. Ask them to compare:
- What details are clearer in the enhanced version?
- How does color or sepia tone change the “feel” of the document?
- Why might historians preserve both versions?
This exercise gives students hands-on insight into archival science, digital preservation, and how primary sources are prepared for modern audiences. 📚🔍
✍️ Essay Prompts for Classroom Use
Teacher Note: The following prompts are designed for classroom use and can be adapted for middle school, high school, or college-level assignments. They align with history, social studies, and language arts objectives and are meant to encourage critical thinking, research skills, and written expression.
✍️ Essay Prompt for Students
Topic: Behind the Scenes: How Archivists Process Images
Archivists at the GG Archives scan original documents as high-quality TIFF master files. From there, they create smaller web images (JPEGs) and sometimes enhanced versions (adding color tones or restoring faded details) to make them look more like the originals.
Your Task: Write a short essay (500 words or less) answering these questions:
- Why is it important to keep a master file that is never altered?
- What are the advantages of creating enhanced versions for online use or exhibits?
- Do you think students should see the “raw” scans, the enhanced versions, or both? Why?
Hint: Think about how history is preserved, how we experience documents online, and what future generations might need from today’s archives.
Last Updated: September 2025
Repository Information
The Gjenvick-Gjønvik Archives (GG Archives) is cataloged with the Library of Congress under MARC Org Code: GaWsGGA and ISIL: US-gawsgga.
Current location:
N91W16562 Pershing Ave, #1
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin 53051-2170, USA
Note: Historic addresses listed in earlier MARC records include Marietta, GA and Woodstock, GA. These appear in authority files but are no longer active.
