Ansco was a camera, film and accessories manufacturer based out of Binghamton, New York.
The company began as Edward Anthony’s daguerreotype gallery in New York in 1841 or 1842 and expanded its operations in 1847 to become a photographic supplier. In 1852 Edward Anthony’s brother Henry T. joined the American company and 18 years later they began making cameras.
At the beginning of the new century the company merged with Scovill & Adams as Anthony & Scovill. This is where the abbreviation Ansco came from. Other US companies were then taken over and the production of photographic paper and film began.
In 1928 Ansco was bought by the German company Agfa. The name was changed to Agfa Ansco, many new cameras were offered and products were imported and licensed from Agfa. With the Second World War and the entry of the USA into this war, the brand name was changed back to Ansco, it produced material for the military and finally came under the complete control of the American government. It retained this status until the 1960s.
In the 1950s, after the end of World War II, the focus was on selling imported cameras under their own brand names. The cameras were manufactured by Agfa, Chinon, Ricoh and Minolta, for example. Films and cameras were also sold under the GAF (General Aniline & Film) brand.
In the late 1970s, the trademark rights were bought by Haking, a Hong Kong company. They sold their own cameras to photographers under the Ansco brand name until the 1990s.
GAF was renamed Anitec and later became part of the US photo group Kodak.
