Los Angeles, Dec. 07, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In conjunction with the grand reopening on December 7, the Petersen Automotive Museum announced an important media partnership with TEN: The Enthusiast Network. TEN will house its photo archive — which includes historical Petersen Publishing material — in the new Robert E. Petersen Library & Research Center at the Petersen Automotive Museum. TEN will also serve as the presenting sponsor of the museum’s Hot Rod and Customs Gallery. For the museum’s reopening, MindOverEye, a division of TEN, developed three unique videos for each of the museum’s three floors centered around “Artistry,” “Thrill of Motorsports,” and “Road to Stardom.”
“We’re thrilled to bring the original archives back home to the Petersen Automotive Museum,” says Petersen Automotive Museum Executive Director Terry Karges. “This is a great opportunity to preserve the recorded history of car culture in Southern California. We’re honored to be the caretakers of that history and are excited to share it with future generations.”
The TEN photo archive will ultimately be available to the public, are a vital component of the new Hot Rod and Customs Gallery. Important HOT ROD magazine covers are prominent. The TEN photo archive will be the largest automotive enthusiast archive in the world and will include 8 million images from 1955-1997, thousands of which have never before been seen. At the heart of the photo archive is imagery from Petersen Publishing, which is responsible for the creation of both HOT ROD (1948) and MOTOR TREND (1949) magazines. Margie and Robert E. Petersen’s legacies include these magazines and countless others, in addition to the Petersen Automotive Museum.
“For decades you had to be on the HOT ROD staff to access the Petersen Publishing Archives, and now through our partnership with the Petersen Automotive Museum we can share these historic images,” says David Kennedy, Editor-In-Chief of HOT ROD. “Within this collection the birth of automotive icons like Corvette, Mustang, the small-block Chevy, and the 426 Hemi can be chronicled. There are also decades of motorsports photos from Daytona, Pomona, Riverside and Indy — it’s truly unlike any other photo collection on earth.”
“After Robert E. Petersen sold his Petersen Publishing Company in 1996, it was always his goal to have the historical magazine archives and memorabilia including all the photo images from 1948, some of which he personally photographed in those early years, housed at the Petersen Automotive Museum,” says GiGi Carleton of the Petersen Foundation. “This dream has been fulfilled by relocating the TEN archives to the new Robert E. Petersen Library and Research Center at the Petersen Automotive Museum, where all the archives will be digitalized and available to automotive writers and researchers.”
For more information about TEN: The Enthusiast Network, please visit enthusiastnetwork.com. To learn more about the Petersen Automotive Museum, please visit petersen.org or call 323.930.2277.
About The Petersen Automotive Museum
The Petersen Automotive Museum Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charity. The Museum is located at 6060 Wilshire Boulevard (at Fairfax) in Los Angeles, California, 90036. Admission prices are $15 for general admission adults, $12 for seniors and students with ID, $7 for children ages 3 to 12. Active military with ID, personal care attendants and children under three are admitted free. Museum hours are 10am to 6pm. For general information, call 323/930-CARS or visit www.petersen.org.
About TEN: The Enthusiast Network
TEN: The Enthusiast Network is the world’s premier network of enthusiast brands, such as MOTOR TREND, AUTOMOBILE, HOT ROD, SURFER, TRANSWORLD SKATEBOARDING, and GRINDTV. With more than 50 publications, 60 websites, 50 events, 1,000 branded products, Motor Trend OnDemand subscription video on-demand service, and the world’s largest action/adventure sports media platform, TEN inspires enthusiasts to pursue their passions. For more information, visit enthusiastnetwork.com.