Select prints from the National Geographic Society's 11.5-million-image archive, which richly documents 20th-century life from Uganda to the Mississippi Delta to the South Pole, are headed to the fine-art market for the first time.

To find private and institutional collectors for the vintage black-and-white prints and later color images, the society has chosen the Steven Kasher Gallery in Chelsea. On Sept. 17 the gallery will open its first exhibition of National Geographic pictures: 150 vintage prints from a dozen photographers. Many of the pictures were never published in National Geographic magazine, and most will be seen outside the archive for the first time. Later exhibitions planned by the gallery will offer new, limited-edition color prints made from the society’s negatives and digital files. Digital and publication rights to the images will remain with the society.

Read more at the New York Times.