Catalogue description British Empire Collection of Photographs

The photographs are arranged topographically, mainly by country, colony, dominion or territory, and then into broad themes. This is believed to reflect how the collection was arranged before transfer to the archives.

The countries and territories are in an alphabetical sequence. These are a mixture of 'old' colonial names and 'new' names used on independence. The reasons for the choice of one or the other are not now obvious; the name chosen does not necessarily match whether photographs were taken before or after independence. Where relevant, alternative names are included in the catalogue at subseries level.

The themes used to classify the phographs were: Religion, Social conditions, Occupations and services, The Forces [i.e. armed services], Associations and societies, Education, Communications and transport, Science, Nature, Medicine, Civil and building construction, Mining, Agriculture and food production, Arts and crafts, Recreations and sports, Geography, Events, Racial types, Antiquities, Architecture. Photographs classified under the theme 'Racial types' appear to have been selected to illustrate the ethnic diversity of the British Empire.

This classification scheme was presumably devised by Central Office of Information staff, but its origins are not known and it may have evolved over time. Not all themes were used for every country or territory and it is not always obvious why a particular photograph was grouped under one theme rather than another. For some countries and territories there is just one general album instead of separate albums by theme.

The Central Office of Information is believed to have developed and maintained this collection as an image library of material to be used for publicity or marketing purposes by the UK Government. Some of the photographs were taken by government employees and others were purchased.