They will be going to the mine with the rest of the pictures. The mine will be staffed by only two people, one for research and one for scanning. With such a small staff, the prospect of finding hidden gems or doing much digitizing seems remote. Meanwhile, Corbis's most popular photographs say, the picture of John F. Kennedy Jr. saluting his father's coffin will become ever more popular. And the more pictures are requested, the more they are requested.
Visual history is doomed to repeat itself.
But at least the history won't disappear. But critics are quick to point out that Mr. Gates is probably also rich enough to finish digitizing the collection and choose a more accessible location. Many other photo and film collections are digitizing, and many have off-site storage facilities. The Museum of Modern Art has one in Pennsylvania and the Library of Congress has one in Maryland. And for most of Corbis's clients, like People magazine, American Heritage magazine, cable television stations and advertisers, it is easy to find a photograph to suit their needs.