Ansel Adams, founder of Museum Graphics
FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS
Museum Graphics was founded in 1952 under the name of "5 Associates" by Ansel Adams, Virginia Best Adams, and Phillip Knight. Its original purpose was to print color postcards and souvenir items for sale in Yosemite National Park. Over the years the line was expanded to include photographic books, notecards, postcards, Christmas cards, and matted reproductions.
Anne Adams Helms, Ansel's daughter, took over management of the company in 1966, followed by Alison Mayhew Jaques, the daughter of Charles Mayhew and Anne Adams (Mayhew) Helms and granddaughter of Ansel, in 1986. Alison still operates the company today.
The present name Museum Graphics was chosen to give a more descriptive title to what we do, which is to produce high quality lithographic reproductions, postcards and note cards, primarily for the fine arts museum trade.
Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient
“At one with the power of the American landscape, and renowned for the patient skill and timeless beauty of his work, photographer Ansel Adams has been a visionary in his efforts to preserve this country’s wild and scenic areas, both on film and on Earth. Drawn to the beauty of nature’s monuments, he is regarded by environmentalists as a monument himself, and by photographers as a national institution. It is through his foresight and fortitude that so much of America has been saved for future Americans.”
President James E. Carter
Presenting Ansel Adams with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
