Fred Spira was a photographic historian, collector and business owner who was one of the founders of Spiratone, a photographic business that he began with his family in 1941 as a lab for film development in New York. The business grew into a multi-million dollar business that manufactured and sold affordable photographic equipment. The company became publicly traded when it merged with Interphoto in 1967, it was then eventually bought out by Argus and closed in the early 1990's. Spira retired from the business in 1987.

Spira collected photographic literature and ephemera throughout his life, eventually amassing 10,000 books and 20,000 pieces of photographic equipment, including rare cameras and viewing devices such as and 1861 Ross-Sutton wet plate Panoramic camera and the 1896 Pettibone Bros. Mfg. Co. Revolving Disc Sciopticon. These items and others from the collection were exhibited at the George Eastman House Museum in 1980. The collection also served as the basis for the 2001 book "The History of Photography: as Seen Through the Eyes of the Spira Collection", written by Fred Spira and his son, Jonathan Spira and published by Aperture.

Portions of the Spira library were acquired by the Ryerson Library and Archives in 2006 and 2008, and the photographic camera and ephemera was sold after Spira's death in 2007 and now forms the basis of the Photographic Technology collection at the Qatar Museums Authority.