Adlib Internet Server 5

Title
Individual Images
Reference
PAL/2
Production date
1930 - 1970

Creator

Photographic Advertising Ltd Biography Biography
Photographic Advertising Limited was an advertising photography studio and stock image supplier based in London and Manchester in the 20th century. The company was founded in 1926. However, the company had its origins earlier in the decade: the Chief Photographer and Managing Director George Mewes had been a photojournalist and a documentary film-maker. In the early 1920s, he and the other founding members of staff were employees and shareholders of a film studio, the Castle Film Company in Ealing. Other founding members were Walter Nunn (Company Secretary) and Oliver Locker Lampson (Chairman). The company moved to studios at 108 Victoria Street, in Victoria, London. They had large and extensive studios to allow the complex sets advertising photography often required. Their studios were furnished with room sets, household objects and, after a large number of commissions from the Amalgamated Press Group, a fully fitted studio kitchen. The company's clients included Canadian Pacific, Swan Hellenistic, Union Castle Cruises, Cunard and various automobile companies. The company expanded into a second studio in Manchester before the second world war. Their Manchester studio was based at 196 Deansgate and was similarly equipped and designed to serve Northern clients. Gordon La Masurier, who joined the company in 1931, was sent to set up the studios. Less successful than anticipated, it closed shortly after the war. The London studio stayed open with a skeleton staff during the second world war. The company took a lot of magazine photography in the 1950s, and worked for catalogue companies including Littlewoods when times were tough. The company moved to new London studios in Murray House, also in Victoria, in 1961. However, the 1960s saw the gradual decline of the company, and the company was put into voluntary liquidation in 1970 and dissolved in 1977.

Scope and Content
This series contains negatives and prints produced by Photographic Advertising Ltd. Over 90% of the material is in the form of negatives only. The negatives are largely whole plate sheet film, however a small amount (around 5%) are on different film formats, taken with more portable cameras. If an image was sold outright by the company, the negative would occasionally be released and so is missing from the collection - however, this is relatively rare. The largest subject matter in this series are simple portraits of individuals. There are images of individuals or groups in specific leisure or professional contexts: firemen, housewives, office scenes, tennis players. During the war years, there are images of service men and women. Many images were taking in the studios of Photographic Advertising Ltd, and the outline of backdrops can be seen around the edge of some negatives. There is also still life photography. The images in the collection were routinely heavily retouched. Around 20% of the negatives are from a later sequence, taken during the 1960s when the company was in financial difficulty.
Extent
15,000 individual images
Physical description
The condition of this series is good.
Level of description
SERIES
Repository name
National Science and Media Museum, Bradford
Conditions governing access
Access is given in accordance with the NSMM access policy. Material from this collection is available to researchers through the museum’s Insight facility.
Conditions governing Reproduction
Copies may be supplied of items in the collection, provided that the copying process used does not damage the item or is not detrimental to its preservation. Copies will be supplied in accordance with the NSMM’s terms and conditions for the supply and reproduction of copies, and the provisions of any relevant copyright legislation.