In 1947, Robert E. Petersen founded Petersen Publishing. More than 70 years later, the company’s archives will be digitized and uploaded to the internet by an automotive museum he founded.
The huge project will be funded by a grant from the Specialty Equipment Market Association.
“SEMA, Petersen Publishing (now TEN: PUBLISHING) and the automotive aftermarket are inexorably linked with roots tracing back to the 1940s, and we are proud to support this important project that documents and protects our heritage,” SEMA chairman Wade Kawasaki said in a news release.
“From the early days of land speed and drag racing to technical articles to coverage of the first SEMA Shows, it’s all there in these archives and we are excited to work with The Petersen to share this history with the public and our members.”
The archive will include more than 1 million frames that will be accessible by anyone for research purposes.
It will be housed in the Robert E. Petersen Research Library, thanks to some additional funding from the Petersen Family Trust.
“Thanks to SEMA we will be able to preserve the past and document our history,” Petersen Museum xxecutive director Terry L. Karges said in the news release.
