The Documentary Photography Archive (DPA) is a

photo archive Photo archive may refer to * Photographic archives maintained by galleries, libraries, archives and museums. Sometimes referred to as art historical photo archives * Archives of photographs licensed for use in stock photography ** List of online i ...

founded in 1985 and held at the

Greater Manchester County Record Office The Greater Manchester County Record Office (GMCRO) is an archive of primary materials relating to the heritage of Greater Manchester, in North West England; it is located in Manchester city centre, in Archives + in Manchester's Central Librar ...

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been re ...

. The archive captures aspects of the people and places of the

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

region in the UK and includes over 100,000 images from family albums and elsewhere, from the 1840s to the 1950s. It also commissioned contemporary photographers to document aspects of everyday life from the mid-1980s to the 1990s, which is also held in the archive.

Details

The collection of images and related material includes: *Over 80,000 photographs from schools, workplaces, studios and Manchester streets dating back to 1840. *Donated photographs from photographic businesses and societies. *Panora school negatives from 1968 to 1985. *An oral history collection. *Contemporary commissioned works from the mid-1980s to the 1990s, including: **''Retailing in the Borough of Salford'' (1985) by

Martin Parr Martin Parr (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in p ...

. **''Manchester International Airport : A Typical Day'' by

Shirley Baker Shirley Baker (9 July 1932 – 21 September 2014) was a British photographer, best known for her street photography and street portraits in working class areas of Greater Manchester. She worked as a freelance writer and photographer on various ...

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2024, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passengers (the busiest outside of London) ...

, July and August 1987. Includes 547 black and white 35 mm negatives, 38 colour 35 mm negatives, 72 black and white prints and 12 colour prints. **''Care in the Community – Rainhill Hospital'' (1988–1990) by Tom Wood.

Rainhill Hospital Rainhill Hospital was a very large psychiatric hospital complex that was located in Rainhill, Merseyside, England. Founded in 1851 as the then Third Lancashire County Lunatic Asylum, the hospital was repeatedly expanded until the 1980's when a m ...

before its closure. **''Cammell Laird Shipyard, Birkenhead'' (1996) by Tom Wood.

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

shipyard (1993–1996) in Liverpool before its closure. **Photographs by Clement Cooper. **Photographs by

John Darwell John Darwell (born 1955) is a British photographer. Life and career Darwell was born in Bolton, Lancashire,Stephen Clarke,John Darwell: DDSBs (Discarded Dog Sh*t Bags), Redeye, 27 August 2013. in 1955. He has a BA in photography from Manchester P ...

. Staff at the archive have included Caroline Warhurst and Audrey Linkman.

References

External links

* {{official website, www.manchester.gov.uk/info/448/archives_and_local_studies/4689/documentary_photography_archive
A selection of images from the collection on Flickr
Archives in Greater Manchester Organisations based in Manchester 1985 establishments in England Photo archives in the United Kingdom