Catalogue description HACKNEY PEOPLE'S PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS

The deposit consisted of two large folders of photographs, mostly unidentified. These include many local photographs which appeared in the paper and some including some of the Hackney People's Press collective at work, which did not. There are also some national photographs. The pictures themselves are a mixture of photographs and screen prints.

Hackney People's Press, 1973-1985

Open. Copyright of the photographs did not always belong to the HPP and copying of certain items for publication may result in the payment of reproduction fees.

Acc No. 1998/14

Deposited by: Charles Foster

Date of deposit: May 1998

Condition of deposit: Donation

In order to give some access to the material, the two folders have been retained. Some individual prints have been identified by checking for the original reports in the papers; others have not been traced or still require identification. The best route is through the pages of the paper, but there is no guarantee of finding an individual photograph as not all views in the paper survive in the archive.

This list is intended as a preliminary list, to be replaced by one which will place the photographs in approximate date order and provide a better guide to individual subjects. Such a list will require additional time and resources which at the date of listing are not available to Hackney Archives Dept.

The Hackney People's Press was an amalgamation of two earlier radical newspapers - Hackney Action and Hackney Gutter Press. Hackney Action was founded in June 1982 by Centerprise, who aimed to 'promote a people's paper. One that will reflect the feelings and attitudes of the people in the borough of Hackney.' Hackney Gutter Press was founded circa 1971 'by a group of people who are involved in organised activities such as Claimants Unions, squatting, Womens Liberation, playhouses for children, food co-ops.' The first issue of the People's Press, was issued in May 1973. Run by a collective, the paper reported on local and relevant national radical issues, but from the early 1980s experienced difficulties in keeping enough people involved to produce and distribute the newspaper. The collective produced 109 issues (including the first five from Hackney Action), the last of which appeared in June 1985.

A near complete run of the paper (including Hackney Action) is held in the local history library and has also been microfilmed. Copies of the paper that came in with this deposit were all duplicates with the exception of issue No 90, which has been incorporated into the bound volumes. The remaining duplicates have been destroyed.

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