While our politicians, papers and commentators fall on either side of the food bank debate, we look back at poverty and charitable welfare in the 1930s.
We’re home to over three million items of historical and cultural significance. Our world-class collection encompasses iconic objects and remarkable archives in the areas of photography, cinematography, television, sound and new media. Peek behind the scenes and discover some hidden treasures…
The Pararchive project’s research in our archives revealed images illuminating the history of Stoke-on-Trent, its factories and workers over four decades.
Ahead of his appearance on BBC Four tonight demonstrating ‘The Soldier’s Kodak’, Colin Harding reveals more about this 100-year-old compact camera.
As the unsettling images of the Ukraine crisis make their way to our TV screens, Brian Liddy is reminded of the first systematically photographed conflict.
Magnum Photographer David Hurn writes about his recent visit to our archives.
George Davison’s medal-winning pin-hole photograph garnered much controversy as the battle between ‘straight’ and pictorial photography raged on.
In 1931 a revolutionary type of microphone housed in an unusual sideways teardrop-shaped capsule was introduced by the BBC. Its oddly-shaped housing earned it the nickname ‘the bomb’.
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially the XXII Olympic Winter Games, are taking place in Sochi, Russia.
Associate Curator Ruth Kitchin picks some photographic highlights from John Thomson’s 19th-century album Foochow and the River Min.
This miniature gilt locket with pull out concertina of 12 albumen prints is a photographic souvenir from the wedding of the world’s most famous little people.
After the sad news of Ray Harryhausen’s death, we give an update on our plans to acquire and house the Harryhausen Collection.
Backdrops and drapery have been used for as long as photographers have been taking photographs, but one of the strangest uses was by Lewis Carroll in 1865.