Catalogue description Collections of the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television

The Museum's diverse Collections encompass some of the best, most significant and historically important visual material to be found anywhere in the world, spanning a range of cultural, scientific and aesthetic disciplines.

Its Photographs Collection contains key images by numerous influential historic and contemporary practitioners such as Cameron, Atkins, Herschel, Martin Parr and Eve Arnold, and includes the world's first negative and the pre-eminent Fox Talbot Collection. Its extensive collection of photographic technology contains equipment tracing the evolution and impact of photographic apparatus from the pre-history of photography, the camera obscura, to current innovative practice. It contains The Kodak Museum Collection: a major collection of equipment characterising the history of photography and film, with the emphasis on Kodak products and popular photography. The Museum is also currently in negotiation to acquire the world-famous Collection of The Royal Photography Society.

The Cinematography Collection holds material relevant to the filmmaking process, the historical development of its technology and its 'delivery' methods. Early camera technology is strongly represented, and includes equipment by eminent pioneers such as Lumière, Robert W Paul, Pathé and Charles Urban, and unique and important objects such as the Le Prince cameras, the Varley camera, the Marey Chronophotographic equipment, apparatus by Freise Greene, Birt Acres and examples of an early Edison Kinetoscope and Kinetophone. Television is strongly represented and incorporates an unrivalled collection of objects relating to the history and development of television: John Logie Baird's 1923 experimental apparatus, a diverse range of television receivers, the Thames Television camera collection and a major archive of television commercials. Finally, the Printed Materials and Ephemera Collection provides the cultural and social context to much of the material contained in the other four NMPFT collections, and as such, is seen as a cross-media, unifying, body of material. It encompasses manuscripts, photographically illustrated and rare books, serials, drawings, designs and ephemera such as posters, cartoons, handbills, and packaging. Highlights include almost full runs of Picture Post and British Journal of Photography Almanac, a manuscript collection of over 300 letters, drafts and notebooks (including those of W H F Talbot). Specific object-related collections, which are closely tied to the documentary archives, are:

BBC Heritage Collection

A collection of television and radio broadcasting equipment collected by BBC engineering over a number of years. Includes the first Emitron tube used at Alexandra Palace in 1936 plus John Logie Baird's personal televisor.

Donald Fleming Collection of Historic American Television Receivers

Comprises over 80 North American television receivers covering the period from 1948 to the late 1970s. The collection includes rare "suitcase sets", "porthole" screens and early remote control receivers. A rare "Colortec" adaptor (for the ill-fated CBS mechanical colour television system) is also included.

Thames Television Camera Collection

A magnificent collection of some 60 broadcast television cameras ranging from the CPS Emitron (EMI circa 1949) to studio colour cameras from the late 1970s. Originally assembled by a dedicated team of engineers at Thames TV, the collection was donated to the museum shortly before Thames TV lost their franchise.

Buckingham Movie Museum

The collection, most of which is at Wroughton, was assembled by John Burgoyne Johnson. It consists of mainly amateur cine apparatus from the 1920s to the 1980s.

Roy Fowler Cinema Book Collection

A collection of several hundred books on cinema and film history from the massive personal library assembled by Roy Fowler, the film and television writer/producer/director. The collection includes general histories and standard reference books as well as many monographs on particular film stars and directors.

This duplicates part of the collection at the Bill Douglas Centre, University of Exeter.

Kraszna-Krausz Collection

Andor Kraszna-Krausz was the founder of the Focal Press, one of the world's foremost publishers of books on photographic and the moving image. Following his death, Kraszna-Krausz bequeathed to the Museum his personal library of approximately 6,000 books, technical literature, manuals and handbooks including many rare and foreign language titles, and a collection of rare nineteenth century photographically illustrated books.

National Museum of Photography, Film and Television

Open. Refer to nmpft.org.uk/insight for further information.

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• Film making
• Television

The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television is one of the family of Museums which makes up the National Museum of Science & Industry (NMSI), and also includes the Science Museum and the National Railway Museum. NMSI has combined visitor numbers of around 3 million a year making it one of the top ten visitor attractions in the United Kingdom. It also has a further 1 million virtual visitors to the combined NMSI web sites.

The NMSI family of museums exists to engage people in a dialogue to create meaning from the past, present and future of human ingenuity. By offering innovative and inspiring experiences which fully exploit the strength of our unique collections, NMSI seeks both to engage visitors with the past, and to stimulate dialogue on issues in science, technology and the media which affect the present and future fabric of society, helping our visitors explore their own personal meanings in key areas of direct relevance to all our lives.

Each Museum operates independently as a leader in its field. However, the Museums have a common approach that combines the best of object display and interactivity, understanding of specialist and non-specialist audiences, and resource provision for educational visitors. By working together where there are potential synergies, NMSI can draw upon an unrivalled pool of specialist expertise in these areas to bring its stories and collections to the widest possible audience.

The NMPFT's specific long-term objective is to engage with its public and to explore new dialogues, to create meanings from the past, present and future of human ingenuity in media, specialising in visual media.

Insight: the Collections & Research Centre, which officially opened on 1 December 2001, introduces a completely new philosophy in the care and access to National Collections. The aim - access for everyone without prejudice - is realised through fabulous bespoke facilities carefully designed and managed to positively encourage the collections to be used, explored, enjoyed, for the delight and enchantment of anybody and everyone.

Insight provides outstanding facilities in a research environment for the care and management of all the Museum's Collections. Insight is the main focal point for research on the visual media and offers navigational tools and access to a range of paper and computer-based reference sources.

For the first time in the Museum's history, the majority of the National Collection is now housed under one roof. Insight has been specifically designed to facilitate and encourage public access to these original photographs and artefacts. Whilst totally committed to ease of access, every element of its design is inspired by a vision to provide the best levels of professional care and stewardship of multi-format collections. As a result of this innovative approach, the Museum is now widely recognised as a 'Centre of Excellence' in this area.

Insight consists of a suite of rooms, each having its own environmental microclimates tailored for the range of material held therein. An exhibition area showcasing the Museum's latest acquisitions, introduces the visitor to the range of facilities offered by the Centre including:

Suite of research rooms to accommodate visitors studying and enjoying prints, cameras and other technology alongside, printed materials and ephemera, and archive moving footage, spanning from the local 'Gandolfi' room

Two print archives housing over 3 million photographs in high quality surroundings Custom-built viewing area, the Kraszna-Krausz Room, the only one of its kind in the United Kingdom, which will offer groups and individuals the opportunity to view at close quarters material which they have personally selected in advance from the Collections.

Two large archives containing artefacts spanning the range of cinema, photographic and television technologies, which will be arranged using modern visible storage techniques to allow access to larger objects in the Collection and sustain guided tours.

Printed materials archive housing an extensive collection of books, periodicals, trade literature, posters and ephemera

Additional room facilities are provided for specialist research and collections management activities

Please refer to nmpft.org.uk/insight for further information

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