Documentary Photography Archive
Introduction
New - A selection of images from this collection can now be viewed on our Flickr photostream.
The Documentary Photographic Archive includes images from family albums and views from across the region which capture all aspects of the people and places of the county. It also contains commissioned collections and donations of photographic deposits.
The Documentary Photography Archive (DPA) is a unique archive which documents the life of the Greater Manchester region. The archive began as a rescue project by an organisation called Manchester Studies in 1975. It now contains over 100,000 images, dating from the earliest days of photography to the present day. Since 1986, the archive has been housed at the Greater Manchester County Record Office.
The vast majority of the images have been catalogued, and these catalogues are searchable on Pastfinder. Just enter DPA in the 'reference number field' and your search term (eg. John Smith or Bengal Street) in the 'any text field'.
The pivotal feature of our work is 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:
- Archive of Family Photographs
- 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 Documentary Photography Archive places considerable emphasis on securing detailed, contextual information about the photographs to assist careful analysis and creative interpretation of the photographic record.
