In a temperature-controlled warehouse somewhere in the middle of Arkansas sit more than a million photographs from New Zealand newspapers.
After almost being lost, they're now up for sale and there is a push to get one photo album of our modern history home somehow.
They're black and white and undeniably Kiwi all over, so how did more than a million of our historic images end up in an Arkansas warehouse in the hands of an American?
Duncan Miller Gallery chief executive Daniel Millier told Newshub that "it's a very strange story".
In 2013, Fairfax Media sent 1.4 million original photographs used in regional Aotearoa newspapers to America to be digitised.
But the pictures never made it back. The digitising company was investigated by the FBI and then went bankrupt.
"There was a bank that ended up owning the archive. The bank was not in the business of photography. My understanding is that they were considering to actually destroy it."
That's where Miller came in and purchased the collection of 47 tonnes of paper.
"I would love to tell you how much we paid for it, but I signed three agreements saying I wouldn't."
And then he hired a 500-square-metre warehouse in north Little Rock to keep the images safe and cold.
"You can see me with a scarf on, it's pretty chilly inside of here. People don't like it that much but photographs love it!"
The images include everything from the Hawke's Bay earthquake, to royal visits, Queen Street in the 1930s and the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior.
Auckland University of Technology history professor Dr Paul Moon told Newshub the collection of photographs is "almost like a photo album for the country".
"I suspect there will be demand from museums, libraries to get some of this collection because it's unique. A lot of those images just don't exist anywhere else."
Miller is hoping that selling to Aotearoa institutions could help keep much of the collection together.
But he's also starting a series of online auctions next week, so for a couple of hundred dollars, ordinary Kiwis can purchase an extraordinary piece of our history.
Ministry of Culture and Heritage Pou Mataaho o Te Hua/Deputy Chief Executive of Delivery Glenis Philip-Barbara said The Ministry hasn't been contacted about the matter.
"While Manatū Taonga is not a collecting agency, we would be very happy to speak with the archivist about any New Zealand photos in his possession and offer advice," Philip-Barbara said.
The auction will begin on November 14 and will be online only at Thefairfaxarchives.co.Nz
