Photographs

Photographs can be found within many of our collections. The quickest way to search our collections for images of a particular person of place is to use our online catalogue.

Our main photographic collection, covering the whole of the county, is the Dorset Photographic Archive (D/DPA). It is arranged alphabetically by town or village. This was collated from various smaller deposits over a period of several decades. Volunteers have been working to list and package this collection, but currently there is no public catalogue. To search this collection, please Contact us so we can advise you, or you can visit us and request the file for the town or village you are interested to browse in our searchroom.

The  Herbert collection (opens in a new window) (D/HBT) is a vast collection of tens of thousands of photographic negatives, mostly of the Weymouth area in the mid twentieth century. Part of this collection has been digitised and indexed, but work is still ongoing. You will need to contact us in advance if you are interested in using this collection, as it not yet accessible in the searchroom.

Please be aware that photographs are considered artistic works for copyright purposes, and can remain in copyright for many years after they were produced (typically for 70 years after the death of the photographer). This may therefore place restrictions on making copies of photographs in our collections, or any subsequent publication of such photographs. Please contact us for advice on copyright and publication.