Liverpool's positive image
Record Office photo archive is of 'national and international importance'
Work to digitise, catalogue and conserve collection praised by experts
LIVERPOOL'S photographic collections have been recognised as being of national and international importance.
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council has awarded Liverpool Record Office the prestigious 'Designation status' for its extensive archive of photographs.
The Designation scheme celebrates the leading museum, library and archive collections in England that are deemed to be of outstanding significance.
Organisations with designated collections are seen as caring for important parts of the country's cultural heritage.
Liverpool City Council Leader, Warren Bradley, said: "As Liverpool approaches its 800th birthday, it's fitting that this hugely important part of our history and heritage has received this national honour.
"Liverpool has a rich and varied past and can look back on a fascinating story. The work of our Record Office to preserve and catalogue the images which capture this story, and make them available to everyone, is truly priceless. I'm very proud that this collection has taken its place among the most culturally significant in the country."
The extensive photographic archives at Liverpool Record Office build up a fascinating and detailed picture of the city. They include:
The city engineer's archive and housing department archive which documents town planning, transport, housing and public health. Dating from the late 19th century and with a more than 180,000 photographs, the archive shows the rapid development of the city and its people. It also records the outstanding work of Professor John Brodie, City Engineer from 1898-1926. His work was so highly regarded that he was invited to assist with the planning of New Delhi in India.
The complete work of Edward Chambre Hardman, part owned by the council and part owned by The National Trust. Chambre Hardman was one of the most admired portrait and landscape photographers of the 20th century. There are more than 150,000 of his portrait photographs, providing an extraordinary record of the people of Liverpool as well as distinguished visitors such as Ivor Novello and Margot Fonteyn. There are also several thousand stunning landscape photographs taken in and around Liverpool, the north west, Wales and Scotland.
The Local Studies collection of around 70,000 photographs from the 1890s to the present provides comprehensive coverage of buildings, streets, districts, people and events. It includes late 19th century photography of street characters and detailed record of the extensive air raid damage to Liverpool in the Second World War.
Record Office Manager David Stoker said: "Liverpool is gearing up for Capital of Culture in 2008, as well as its 800th birthday in 2007, so it's great news that our photographic collections have been officially recognised as being of national and international cultural significance.
"We place huge importance in looking after our photographic collection - they are the collected memories of Liverpool. Our images are used every day to support all kinds of research, publications, exhibitions and the council's work with the media and cultural organisations.
"And at the heart of the work of the Record Office is making sure this wonderful record of Liverpool's history can be seen by as many people as possible, and are not just locked away. Digitisation is making tens of thousands of Liverpool images available to people, on-line, all over the world."
Liverpool Record office is now attracting huge numbers of visitors, and is the busiest in the country after the National Archives. There were just over 43,200 visitors during 2005/06 who consulted nearly 40,000 documents and took up over 40,000 computer and microfilm sessions.
Log on to www.mersey-gateway.org or www.liverpool.gov.uk/archives to look at thousands of digitised images from the city's huge photographic archive.
