Documentary Photographic Archive (DPA)

IDENTITY STATEMENT AREA

Reference code(s): DPA

Title: Documentary Photographic Archive (DPA)

Date(s): 1840 - 2000

Level of description: Fond

Extent and medium of the unit of description: Historical collections 80,000 images; Donations (up until 1982) 35,000 images, and 13 commissions.

CONTEXT AREA

Name of creator(s): DPA

Administrative/Biographical history: The DPA was established in 1985 with the aim of creating a publicly accessible, regional archive devoted exclusively to the photographic record. An independent registered charity (No. 700187), the DPA collections are housed at GMCRO. The collections include material gathered by the Manchester Studies team, based at the then Manchester Polytechnic (1975 - 1985) and from subsequent community-based projects.

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer:

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

Scope and content: The Archive comprises three distinct elements: the Archive of Family Photographs, the Contemporary Commissions Collection, and donations of original photographs of every description, similar to material found in libraries, record offices and museums throughout Britain.

The Archive of Family Photographs
The Archive of Family Photographs (also called the Historical Collections) is a collection of some 80,000 items that were copied from the family albums of local people. Each deposit is accompanied by detailed documentary records which include background information about the family, subject content of each individual photograph and data on how or why the photograph was taken. Geographical coverage extends from the cotton towns of north east Lancashire down to the villages on the borders of Derbyshire and Cheshire. Spanning the century between the 1850s and the 1950s, this archive features the output of the commercial portrait photographer, both studio and itinerant, as well as the work of the family amateur.

The collections are arranged in the following sections:

Studio portraits of infants, adults and family in Sunday best dress, street portraits

Domestic interior photographs, including dining rooms, sitting rooms, libraries and billiard rooms in the mansions of the wealthy that were photographed in the 19th century as evidence of their owners' status and success as well as interior photographs of working class homes

School photographs show class groups posed outside in the schoolyard or inside the classroom

Photographs of the Cotton Industry (notably 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 Occasions such as works outings, youth organisations, church groups, Whit walks, street parties, carnivals, processions, and, of course, the family holiday at the seaside.

The Contemporary Commissions Collection is comprised of 13 collections that document various aspects of life in the North- West from 1985 to the present. These collections comprise of a written record of the photographer during the life of the commission, negatives and contact sheets of all the photographs and documentation of exhibitions held or publications produced from the commission.

The subjects covered in the Commissions include the retail industry in Salford by Martin Parr (C1); a study of children from a variety of backgrounds by Marianne Morris (C2); Manchester Airport from a passenger perspective by Shirley Baker (C4); decaying market gardens and allotments on Ashton Moss which had once provided fresh food for the city of Manchester and its satellite towns by Brian Lomas (C7); heritage industry in some sites in the North West including the Albert Dock and Quarry Bank Mill by Paul Reas (C9); A look at aspects of life in Bolton John McDonald (C11) and a youth culture on the Streets of Ashton under Lyne by Lisa Woollett (C13). A complete list of the Commissions can be found on the GMCRO web site.

Clement Cooper's two commissions entitled `Afro Caribbean Youth in Moss Side' (C3) and Moss Side, Manchester (C6), feature the lives and experiences of peoples of African - Caribbean descent in Greater Manchester. Clement Cooper was born in Manchester in 1965 and brought up in the predominately Black and Asian area of Moss Side.

The Donations and Deposits Collections of the DPA operates like any conventional archive and accepts on deposit material originally assembled by individuals, families, organisations, or businesses. Many of the records were deposited between 1975 - 1985 when the Manchester Studies Team, based at the then Manchester Polytechnic, were engaged in the `Archival Retrieval Project'. This project aimed to identify records of working class organisations as well as the documents and papers generated by the family and preserved in the home. Documents such as diaries and letters which record people's attitudes; wage slips, rent books, bills and receipts which shed light on household economy; the various tickets, certificates, programmes and pamphlets which define the family's interests and activities. The records were gathered by a number of sources: regular appeals made in the local press, radio and television, areas surveys, door to door canvassing and the special initiatives and projects.

The records include those housed under the Family Photographs and Albums and of importance here are the following:

• The Black History Project
• The Roots Festival Committee History Project
• The Sikh Family History Project Collections

Other donations and deposits include (1) Photographic Societies (Lancashire and Cheshire Photographic Union, North Manchester Camera Club (mainly lantern slides), Northern Photographic Group (documentary records), 1960-1973 and Half Plate Postal Club, Circle 19, 1979-1989, (2) Photographic Businesses (Lafayette Studio, Manchester (half plate negatives), 1927-1952, Harry Lonsdale Studio, Ramsbottom, 1930s-1950s and Panora (panoramic photographs of school groups), Sept 1968-May 1982, and the (3) Oral History Collection comprised of tape-recorded interviews with people who worked in some aspect of the photographic industry including Harold Shields, of Panora; Chambré Hardman of Liverpool; and Tony Walker, proprietor of the Belle Vue Studio in Bradford.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

System of arrangement: Each collection consists of contact prints and an accompanying printed catalogue (Blue Book).

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

Conditions governing access: The archive may be viewed by prior appointment with the Archivist, who can be contacted on 0161 247 1765.

Conditions governing reproduction: Please note that in some cases, the GCMRO does not hold the original photographs, only copies and accompanying negatives. Please contact the GMCRO for further information regarding particular collections/sub-collections

Language/scripts of material: English

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids: Printed catalogues

ALLIED MATERIALS AREA

Existence and location of originals: Only some of the originals are housed at the GMCRO. Please contact repository for further information.

Existence and location of copies:

Related units of description:

Publication note: Please see list of articles and publications in the GMCRO archive survey report.

DESCRIPTION CONTROL AREA

Recorder's note:

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:

Interest: Black, Asian

Specific group: African-Caribbean peoples; South Asian peoples

Subjects

Sikhism

Photographs

Photography

Ethnic groups

Communities

Personal/Corporate names

Documentary Photograph Archive

Cooper, Clement

Black History Project

Roots Festival Committee History Project

Sikh Family History Project

Places

Manchester, United Kingdom