Imperial War Museum, Photograph Archive

IDENTITY STATEMENT AREA

Reference code(s): IWM

Title: Imperial War Museum, Photograph Archive

Date(s): 1900 - present

Level of description: Fond

Extent and medium of the unit of description: c.6 million photographic images (in total). Material on the Caribbean and Black and Asian history is dispersed throughout the entire collection.

CONTEXT AREA

Name of creator(s): Imperial War Museum

Administrative/Biographical history: The Imperial War Museum (IWM) houses collections of exhibits, manuscripts, printed sources, photographs, sound recordings and audio-visual materials which document the history of international conflicts, especially those involving Britain and the Commonwealth, from c.1900 to the present day. Its Photograph Archive of over 6 million images is a rich source of information about the two world wars and other conflicts of the 20th century. In addition to the Photograph Archive the IWM also manages collections of printed books, maps, sound recordings, art works, museum exhibits and official papers, accessible to the public via it main site in Lambeth Road, London, and via four other branches: the Cabinet War Rooms in Whitehall (London), HMS Belfast in the Pool of London, the Imperial War Museum Duxford near Cambridge and the Imperial War Museum North at Trafford, Manchester. Full details about each of the curatorial departments through which the IWM collections are managed (namely, Department of Art, Department of Documents, Exhibits and Firearms, Film and Video Archive, Photograph Archive, Department of Printed Books and the Sound Archive), are available from the Museum's web site at http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/index.htm. Information about the Photograph Archive's research resources that are particularly relevant to Caribbean studies and the history of Black and Asian peoples in Britain are also summarised below.

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer: Under the Public Records Act the Photograph Archive is the national repository for British official photographs within the Museum's remit.

CONTENT AND STRUCTURE AREA

Scope and content: Many of the collections within the Photograph Archive document the lives and wartime experiences of service men/women and civilians during the two world wars, but there are also resources that cover other international conflicts of the 20th century.

With regard to the history of Black and Asian peoples in Britain the Photograph Archive contains images of Black and Asian servicemen and women who served with British armed forces during the two world wars, and also provides extensive documentation about the contributions of Commonwealth countries to the war effort. There are photographic images of specific individuals - such as the Indian-born Special Operations Executive, Noor Inayat Khan (1914-1944), who served as a radio operator during World War 2 and was posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre, the George Cross and an MBE for her gallantry - and also group images showing the hundreds of thousands of Black and Asian peoples of African, Asian and Caribbean descent (including people born in the UK) serving in the British Army, Navy and Air Force.
Photographic images of the following battalions, corps and forces are particularly well represented in the IWM collections:

• British West Indies Regiment (WW1)
• Auxiliary Territorial Service
• 1st Battalion Caribbean Regiment (WW2)
• Front-line troops of the 11th East African Division
• King's African Rifles (KAR)
• Royal Indian Air Force
  Royal Indian Navy
• Royal West African Frontier Force
• Trinidad Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (TRNVR)
• 81st West African Division
• 82nd West African Division
• 1st and 2nd battalions of the West India Regiment (WW1)
• Women's Royal Indian Naval Service
• Women's Auxiliary Corps (Indian)
• Women's Auxiliary Air Force

In addition many Black and Asian seamen served in the Merchant Navy and thousands of African, Caribbean and South Asian peoples were recruited into the British war effort to work in munitions or as skilled engineers, nurses and doctors, etc.

With regard to Caribbean studies the Photograph Archive houses the following resources, collated and catalogued into three discrete collections:

• Subject List No. 269 - comprising images of Caribbean servicemen and women in the Royal Air Force, the Merchant Navy, the Royal Engineers, the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) and the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF)
• Subject List No. 276 - comprising resources on West Indians in the First World War: specifically images of recruitment and training activities in Jamaica, Trinidad, Grenada and the Bahamas.
• Subject List No. 285 - comprising resources on the Caribbean at War, 1939-1945, U.S. Bases in the Caribbean, the North and South Caribbean Forces, West Indians in the First World War, the Caribbean Regiment, the Trinidad Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (TRNVR), Civil Defence in the Caribbean and Social and Constitutional Development in the West Indies.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

System of arrangement:

CONDITIONS OF ACCESS AND USE AREA

Conditions governing access: Access to the Visitor's Room of the Imperial War Museum is by appointment during the following opening hours: Monday - Friday 10:00am to 5:00pm. There are no entry fees and staff are available to advise you in your search. The Visitors Room is a short distance from the Imperial War Museum in the All Saints Annexe, Austral Street, London SE11 4SL. To make an appointment please phone +44 (0) 20 7416 5333.

Conditions governing reproduction: The majority of photographic images within the collection are Crown copyright. Applications for reproduction rights should be addressed to the Keeper, Photograph Archive. Copies are supplied in accordance with restrictions imposed by current legislation. Reproduction fees may be charged. Full details are available from the IWM web site at http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/photos.htm

Language/scripts of material: English

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids: Printed subject lists

ALLIED MATERIALS AREA

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related units of description:

Publication note:

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: February 2002

Interest: Asian, Black, Caribbean

Specific group:

Subjects

Asian peoples

African peoples

Colonial countries

World war

Photographs

International conflicts

Black and Asian seamen

Armed forces

Personal/Corporate names

Auxiliary Territorial Service

British West Indies Regiment

Caribbean Regiment

King's African Rifles

Royal Indian Air Force

Royal Indian Navy

Royal West African Frontier Force

Trinidad Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

Women's Royal Indian Naval Service

Women's Auxiliary Corps (Indian)

Women's Auxiliary Air Force

West India Regiment

Khan, Noor Inayat, 1914-1944

Places

Trinidad and Tobago

Grenada

Jamaica

Bahamas

Caribbean