A new website hosting thousands of Nottingham photographs will be launched from 1 November 2018, one hundred years after the city’s photographic collection was established.
The Picture Nottingham site at www.picturenottingham.co.uk builds on the success of its predecessor, Picture the Past, will enable visitors to view thousands of images capturing our rich social heritage ranging over 200 years.
Images include some of the oldest Nottingham photographs from the 1850s, taken by Samuel Bourne, as well as many local pictures, engravings and sketches dating from the 1700s onwards.
Nottingham in 1751 – looking from West Bridgford, with Nottingham Castle to the right and St Mary’s Church to the left
Nottingham Local Studies Library has a significant photograph and image collection which began in 1918 when an appeal was sent out by the library to the Nottingham public for photographs of the local area. The response was excellent and many valuable photographs were presented, and so began the collection which now contains tens of thousands of images of local people, places and events.
Nottingham Local Studies staff welcome sharing often unique images and photographs with the public but this has to be balanced with the need to care and conserve those resources for future generations. Digitisation of photographs resolves that dilemma, enabling everyone to view them while ensuring that handling of the originals is kept to a minimum.
Staff said: “Here at Nottingham Local Studies Library, we continue to collect photographs – if you have images which you wish to donate to our collection you can do so on Picture Nottingham. We especially welcome photographs of views of local areas showing buildings, people, customs, activities and industry, both past and present.”
Cllr Dave Trimble, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Localities said: “I can think of no better way to mark the 100th birthday of the Nottingham photographic collection than expanding it and bringing it bang up to date with extra features.
“Our library staff have worked incredibly hard to digitise thousands of images enabling people 
to delve into the rich history of Nottingham at the click of a button without even leaving their home. It’s also great to see libraries creating high quality commercial offers as people will be able to buy prints of their favourite images and merchandise from the website.”
Picture Nottingham offers the opportunity to purchase quality prints as well as other merchandise overlaid with images from the website. For more visit the website at www.picturenottingham.co.uk
Derby and Derbyshire photographs will continue to be hosted on Picture the Past www.picturethepast.org.uk. Nottinghamshire photographs are available at www.inspirepicturearchive.org.uk/