The Photography Collection, Special Collections (University of Manchester Library) at the John Rylands Library

Our collection of Photography is rich and extensive and dates from the 1840s to the present. The analysis of the collection that has been undertaken to date reveals particular strengths in the following areas: • Content. It covers a conspectus of subjects from Art to Zoology and covers the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Science and Medicine. It is likely to appeal to a wide range of researchers and learners wanting to work across subject boundaries. • Coverage of genres. It contains a good coverage of different photographic genres and styles (documentary, scientific, artistic, antiquarian, portraits, landscapes and still lives). Our photographic portraits are especially rich and we are actively collecting in this area. • Photo-processes and formats. It encompasses the range of analogue photographic processes and formats from the handmade, calotype prints made in the 1840s by the inventor of negative-positive photography, William Henry Fox Talbot to recent plastic coated colour Polaroids and includes: daguerrotypes, ambrotypes, salt prints, tintypes, cyanotypes, albumen prints, carbon prints, prints in photogravure, autochromes, platino-types, glass plate negatives, glass plate positives, woodburytypes, stereoprints and negatives, film negatives (full range of formats), contact sheets, slides etc. • Works by named photographers especially if they have a connection to Manchester, the North West or the North of England. This collection encompasses a good representation of works by British photographers from early photographers like, William Henry Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron, and Roger Fenton to recent and contemporary photographers like Fay Godwin, Simon Norfolk and Martin Parr. • Coverage of diverse cultures. It has a good representation of photography from across the world as well as an excellent presentation of the local and the national. • Photo-books and magazines. It contains a good representation of early British photographic books (1840s-1900) We also have sets of some significant 20th century photo-magazines, like Picture Post. • Coverage of Recent and Contemporary Photographers. We have some works by recent and contemporary photographers, including photo-stories by Martin Parr and an extensive body of work by the British-Chinese artist Li Yuan-chia. We are in the early stages of developing projects to augment our holdings in this area. • Photo-equipment. Our collection includes a significant collection of associated objects including, cameras, tripods, stereoscopes and a magic lantern.