A Letter From the Publisher

By John A. Meyers

Just before the closing of this week's cover story, which consists of excerpts from a new book by a top Soviet diplomatic defector, TIME's art department faced an urgent problem: it needed shots of Soviet leaders of the 1950s and '60s, plus key events in U.S.-Soviet relations of that period. Within a few hours, almost 200 color and black-and-white photographs arrived. Artist Daniel Maffia used many of these as reference material to guide him in creating the illustrations that accompany the story.

The source of these images was the Time Inc. Picture Collection, the largest privately owned, fully cataloged library of its kind in the world. A repository of 3.5 million photographs, with nearly 16 million more available from contact sheets and negatives, the collection houses all the pictures taken for the company's magazines and books, going back to the early 1930s. Last year the library circulated more than 95,000 prints and slides. Almost 40,000 went to TIME, the largest user of the collection, for reference or reuse; some 350 actually saw print.

What makes the collection unique is its remarkable organization. A card catalog indexes all pictures by assignment, subject, quality of the print and pose (full face, profile, smiling, shaking hands). Cross-references note the backgrounds in each photo, as well as peripheral people and prominent objects: a birthday cake, a motorcycle, a puppy. Even so, some objects slip through the indexing net. Last fall photographs were sought for a Living story about a particular Swedish ivy on the White House Oval Office mantel. There was no index listing for the plant, and hundreds of White House pictures had to be examined. Eventually, 62 turned up, of which 20 were used. Now, of course, the plant is properly cross-indexed.

"Cataloging pictures is a labor-intensive business," says Picture Collection Chief Beth Zarcone, who heads a staff of 32; two researchers, Linda Kurihara and Mary Fanette, work exclusively with TIME. Most requested items: the President, White House staff and Cabinet members; current wars, world leaders, civil rights marches and peace demonstrations.

Unexpected satisfactions occur. Last year TIME ran a cover story on Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko that included a Picture Collection portfolio of his meetings with U.S. Presidents. Shortly afterward, Gromyko sent word that he would like to have copies, please, for his own picture collection.