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IntroductionYou can search and download over 14,000 topographical photographs taken by J Dixon-Scott during the inter-war period. The Dixon-Scott photographic collection has been digitised and catalogued as part of The National Archives Re-discovering the Record project – to find out more, read our blog. What is the Dixon-Scott collection?In the 1920s and 1930s photographer J Dixon-Scott toured the British Isles and Ireland taking tens of thousands of photographs of the landscapes, towns and people that he saw around him. Motivated by his love of the land, creeping development and the rising political tensions in Europe, he set out to create a record for posterity. The large number of books containing his work published before the Second World War reflected a nationwide concern with land spoliation and the loss of our heritage. A collection of over 30,000 of his photographs was purchased by the British Council before subsequently finding its way to the Central Office of Information in 1948. Over 14,000 of these photographs are now housed at The National Archives in the INF 9 record series. Searching the photographsYou can search the photographic collection by:
Or, by clickable index maps using the labs map prototype. Alternatively, you may wish to browse through details of the whole collection. It costs £0.50 to download an individual photograph. What could these photographs help me to discover?The importance of this collection lies in its comprehensive portrait of life during the inter-war years. Dixon-Scott was not only drawn to the rural ideal of the countryside and way of life but also to industrial townscapes and city scenes, capturing life amongst the buzz of the commercial centre, on the parade and the promenade, in the schools and universities, and at play on the sports field and golf course. These images offer a candid insight into the Britain and Ireland of the inter-war years, emanating a sense of calm and eternal order that was subverted by a world bent on ‘progress’ and imminent global conflict. Some of the later photographs also depict bomb damage from the early 1940s. What do the photographs look like?Each photograph is mounted on card and contains short a descriptive sentence. To get an idea of what the photographs look like have a look at these examples which show the cattle market Further researchVisit the main Labs website. Research guidesPhotographs in The National Archives: An Introduction Photographic Series in The National Archives, An Inventory of |
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