Bradford Photographic Archive

A significant collection of photographs and negatives, comprising of around 500,000 items. The largest part of this collection, approximately 350,000 images, was acquired by the service in 2004 from C.H. Wood Ltd. Another significant collection is the Belle Vue Studio Collection, which consists of over 17,500 glass and film negatives and prints produced by the studio throughout its life. The bulk of this collection covers the period from 1950 until the studio closed in 1975, and predominately contains images of migrants that moved to Bradford post World War Two. The studio was particularly popular with the Ukrainian, South Asian and Caribbean communities living and working in Bradford.

The Bradford Heritage Recording Unit collection also makes up a bulk of the photographic archive. The BHRU was established in 1983 with the aim of creating an audio and photographic archive which reflected all aspects of everyday life and leisure in and around Bradford. The collection contains photographs copied from family albums, collected from newspaper and commercial photographers, or taken by photographers working for BHRU between 1983 and 2003 as well as over 900 oral history recordings that cover work, life and leisure in the Bradford district.

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