Archive of Family Photographs
The pivotal feature of the work of the Documentary Photography Archive was the preservation of early photographs (or documentary collections connected with photography). The Archive comprises three distinct elements - two special collections which have been grown from scratch, the Archive of Family Photographs and the Contemporary Commissions Collection. A third element is formed by donations of original photographs of every description, similar to material found in libraries, record offices and museums throughout Britain. The DPA places considerable emphasis on securing detailed, contextual information about the photographs to assist careful analysis and creative interpretation of the photographic record.
The DPA collections are available to the public on request for reference purposes only under supervised conditions. The collections are housed at the Greater Manchester County Record Office, 56 Marshall Street, Manchester, M4 5FU. For access contact archives@gmcro.co.uk
History
In 1975, Manchester Studies established a research project to locate and preserve the records of working people. The project officers visited hundreds of homes within Greater Manchester, and discovered that the one record most likely to survive was the collection of family photographs. So the project concentrated on systematically collecting an archive of family photographs which is now the core of the DPA.
The photographs were copied on to 35mm negatives and the originals were returned to their owners. Contact prints were made from the negatives so the archive could be viewed, and extensive information was obtained from the donor about the content of the photograph and the photographer. This is what makes this archive so different to the vast majority of those held within other record offices and libraries. The DPA recognised that the image as a source of historical information could not stand alone, hence the decision to create information sheets to give the photographs a context.
The archive contains over 80,000 images, dating from the earliest days of photography in the 1840s to the 1950s. The majority fall within the period from the 1890s to 1939. The geographical area covered is the County of Greater Manchester plus the cotton towns of North East Lancashire and the villages on the Cheshire and Derbyshire borders. The images depict aspects of the lives of individual families and therefore the life of the region, and the emphasis is on people rather than places.
The archive documents a way of life common to working people. However, the picture is fragmented; routine daily activity is conspicuous by its absence. Instead, the emphasis is on photographs being reserved for the special occasion: rites of passage such as christenings, breechings, and comings of age; weddings and anniversaries; works outings, Whit walks, street parties, carnivals, processions, seaside holidays, Empire Day, Sports Day. There are also many school photographs, with class groups posed in the classroom or school yard.
Arrangement
As the photographs were collected within the context of the families who created them, the cataloguing system took account of this. Two sequences were established for access purposes. The first was the arrangement in Depositor order, whereby all material relating to one depositor was kept together as an archive. Contact prints and the corresponding information sheets are stored within reference albums. The second is an alphabetical subject index on 5x3 index cards. These two sequences enabled the DPA to preserve the archival integrity of the family photographs, while at the same time assisting a subject-based approach.
The Archive of Family Photographs includes:
- Studio Portraits of infants, adults and family in Sunday best dress. Rites of passage were marked by a visit to the studio - christenings, breechings, confirmations, comings of age, engagement, weddings and anniversaries.
- Street Portraits feature their subjects at the front door, in the backyard, and outside the shop, workshop or public house. Outdoor settings offer telling contrast with the anonymity of the studio, and can portray subjects in their everyday, working dress.
- Domestic Interiors. The dining rooms, sitting rooms, libraries and billiard rooms in the mansions of the wealthy were photographed in the 19th century as evidence of their owners' status and success. Interiors of working class homes, though comparatively scarce prior to 1940, are relatively well represented in our collection.
- School photographs show class groups posed outside in the schoolyard or inside the classroom. The school's special day is celebrated in photographs - May Day, Empire Day, Sports Day etc.
Work Interiors increase significantly from the 1890s when photographs could be reproduced relatively cheaply in the printing press. The Cotton Industry is particularly well represented in our collection. Typical are those pictures which show workers posing beside their dormant machines, often when the work place is decorated for some special occasion.
Sport, Leisure and the Special Occasion. Photographs of the special day feature prominently in the family album. They include works outings, youth organisations, church groups, Whit walks, street parties, carnivals, processions, and, of course, the family holiday at the seaside.