Welcome...

Welcome to the British photographic history blog (BPH). Launched at the start of 2009 there are now nearly 4400 subscribers, in addition to regular readers. These range from museum and gallery curators, photography and history academics, students, collectors and dealers from around the world. The blog provides a forum for news of events and happenings within the BPH community. This includes lectures or meetings, exhibition news, jobs, reviews and general news affecting collections of photographic material or individuals within the field. The focus is on Britain but will include material that is of wider interest from Europe, the United States, Africa and Asia.

A summary of the previous week's posts is usually emailed to signed up readers each Monday. 
                                                                                                   Dr Michael Pritchard

PS. Thanks to George Eastman House (now George Eastman Museum) and History Today magazine blogs for recommending British Photographic History as one of their own favourite blogs. The Daily Telegraph made BPH one of its photography websites of the week

Bonhams' Travel & Exploration auction includes the photography collection of Roger Ward (1945-2023). Born in New Zealand Roger lived much of his life in Europe, and began forming his remarkable collection of early photographs of Asia following his retirement from a highly successful career in book marketing – a profession that made him an internationally-known figure in publishing and bookselling. A scholarly collector, he read widely on the history of photography in Asia in…

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30988784693?profile=RESIZE_400x The sixth workshop of Museum Dialogues seeks to explore how the accommodation of a continuously expanding photographic field—now encompassing computational, networked and AIgenerated imagery—demands not only new collecting strategies and enhanced epistemic literacy but also a fundamental rethinking of value systems and institutional frameworks. Central to these…

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31184626682?profile=RESIZE_400x The John Rylands Library's special collections department has acquired 110 prints form the photography Dorothy Bohm (1924-2023). The work highlights the formative period Bohm spent in Manchester, developing her professional practice, and commemorates the 2010 exhibition of her work at Manchester Art Gallery. The collection includes:

  • Almost 100 black and white portrait…
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Foxed Editions is a new imprint dedicated to the rediscovery of the photobook as a historical form. Its focus is on works that have slipped out of circulation or have remained at the margins of photographic history—books that are rare, overlooked, or insufficiently understood, yet which expand or complicate established narratives. Foxed Editions aims to make important but difficult-to-access works available again, while establishing a programme that connects collecting,…

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Fast Forward: Women in Photography announces the 7th edition of the Fast Forward conferencewhich is organized in partnership with A.J.K. Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), New Delhi.

The research project Fast Forward: Women in Photography aims to explore the work and histories of women photographers, promote opportunities and question ideas dominating the field of photography by initiating thoughtful, new…

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De Montfort University's Photographic History Research Centre has announced the theme and dates of its 2027 conference. It will take place over the 14-15 June 2027 with a theme of Photography and Privacy. A call for papers will be made shortly.

For PHRC news and information about forthcoming events, visit and follow its Centre's website and blog. Events and seminars are delivered online and, with the exception of the annual…

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London's Warburg Institute has received a donation from Professor Elizabeth McGrath, in support of its Photographic Collection. The Warburg Institute's Photographic Collection was established by Aby Warburg in the late 1880s and contains around 400,000 photographs of sculptures, paintings, drawings, prints, tapestries, and other forms of imagery from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It also…

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Information and discussion on all aspects of British photographic history ranging from news, exhibitions, museums, and people, to publication and jobs. BPH is intended to be collaborative so do add your own posts. 

 

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