On 14th October 1938, Hélzne Roger-Viollet and her husband Jean Fischer, photography enthusiasts and great travellers, took over Laurent Ollivier’s shop situated at 6 rue de seine, and founded the “Documentation Photographique Générale Roger-Viollet”. The Roger family collections, and in particular snapshots taken by Henri Roger, Hélène’s father, a gifted amateur photographer who took his first photo in 1889 during a family meal, were added to this. This agency and photography’s history have merged together. The collections, acquired over the course of time, succeed, juxtapose and collate all aspects of history : the start of the century’s modest jobs, architecture, discoveries, science, important men who formed our society, big events, theatre, literature, politics and finally life. Today, the Roger- Viollet Agency holds several million documents.