The Gennert Brothers Photo Supply company was founded in 1856 at Maiden Lane, New York. This was one of the first photo supply houses in America, and they became famous for their daguerreotype mats, cases and other supplies. The two brothers came to America from Braunschweig, Germany.

In approximately 1860 the two brother's business was failing due to the decline of the daguerreotype. Having a wide knowledge of the manufacture of sugar from sugar beets, Mr. Gennert and his brother went West and established a large refinery in the State of Illinois. As history has shown, they were twenty-five years ahead of the time, however due to the unsettled state of business subsequent to the Civil War, this new business venture was unsuccessful.

In 1869, Gottlieb Gennert returned to New York to continue a photographic business without his brother and named the firm G. Gennert. The new company continued in the photo supply business and engaged in the importation of albumen paper and other European specialties with great success. The business grew and Gennert's name became familiar among American photographers with him obtaining a large market share that was the third largest, but far behind Scovill and Anthony.

In the late 1800's the management of the business was conducted by his two sons Maurice G. and Gustav C. Gennert, with oversight from Gottlieb Gennert. The business prospered during the dry plate and amateur photography explosion in the 1880's due to establishing a deal with Gustav Cramer, as the sole distributor for Cramer and Norden dry plates of St. Louis.

In 1894, Gennert began manufacturing his own line of cameras. He was then an importer/ exporter and maufacturer of photographic apparatus and supplies. His first line was the Moutauk, with the introduction of the moutauk detective style camera and then shortly thereafter the "Penny Picture" camera to produce multiple images from a single plate. It is recorded that Gennert had shops in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

In 1901 Gottlieb Gennert died. (1826 - 1901)

In approximately 1921, the G. Gennert Photo supply business discontinued operations.

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