Page, Print, JPEG: Researching and Curating Picture Post, its history and publics

This article discusses methodological reflections underpinning an integrated research and curation strategy addressing the history of the British magazine, Picture Post (1938-57). The dispersed Picture Post archive includes the extensive collection of negatives, prints, contact sheets, publications and daybooks held by the Hulton Archive – part of the multinational visual content provider, Getty Images. Today, however, just a handful of familiar images from Picture Post are recirculated in print and online as visual shorthand for collective memories of twentieth-century Britain. Comprising an exhibition in 2025, online educational resources and an events programme, this project will deliver new historiographic insights into and public engagement with the seminal publication. Charting the magazine and archive’s development, this article explores innovative approaches to research and curation that examine the business of photojournalism in Britain, the public circulation of photographs, and narratives representative of Picture Post’s international outlook and social democratic ethos.

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