Hot on the heels of The National Archives 2025 cataloguing grants is news of its 2025 scoping grants. One of the recipients is Edinburgh's Stills Centre of Photography which will be using its award to preserve and increase access to its archive as it approaches its fiftieth anniversary in 2027.
Stills Centre for Photography, established in Edinburgh in 1977, was the first gallery in Scotland dedicated to photography. Stills is working to preserve and increase access to its archive – a unique collection documenting almost 50 years of photographic exhibitions, artist collaborations, and the evolving role of photography in Scotland and beyond. The archive includes prints, films, posters, artist correspondence, and audio-visual materials, much of which remains undigitised.
Opening this collection will enhance public engagement, highlight key photographic milestones, and inform future programming ahead of Stills’ 50th anniversary in 2027, fulfilling the founding vision to preserve, share, and celebrate the history of photography for generations to come.
Vivienne Gamble, Director, says: “as we approach the 50th Anniversary of Stills, this Archives Revealed scoping grant provides us with a timely opportunity to unlock the potential of an exciting collection which can be shared with public audiences and researchers in the future. As one of the few dedicated public spaces for photography in the country, the narrative of our gallery, the artists and the staff who have shaped it serve as an important parallel history of photography in Scotland and the UK from 1977 to the present day. We are very grateful for the support to get this important project off the ground.”
See: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-revealed/scoping-grant/current-and-past-projects/#2025
https://stills.org/
Image: Michael Pritchard
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