The Documentary Photography Archive’s main task is to preserve early photographs and documentation of working people in the Manchester region. The images were collected from the families, transferred and later returned. The images depict aspects of the lives of individual families and therefore the life of the region, and the emphasis is on people rather than places. Nowadays the collection consists of three distinct elements: the Archive of Family Photographs, the Contemporary Commissions Collection and a collection made up by donations. Since 2000 no commissions have been ordered, but the archive is always looking for new material, so they might be open for suggestions.

Open at the usual office hours and by appointment only.