Approx. two-thirds of the photographs were taken by the playwright responsible for Major Barbara, Arms and the Man and Pygmalion, himself and many feature prominent figures from the worlds of politics and literature as well as stage and screen. The collection includes portraits of HG Wells, JM Barrie and Lawrence of Arabia.
The London School of Economics (LSE), whom Shaw was the co-founder, and the National Trust, which owns much of the collection, have teamed up to create the online archive, though only a handful of images can be accessed at present.
In all, more than 20,000 photographs should be accessible when the project is completed in the summer of 2011.
