Photographic collection mandate
The collections mandate is as follows:
Our purpose is to support research, learning and teaching across all Schools at the University of St Andrews through acquisition, curation and preservation of the photographic record.
The University of St Andrews photographic collection has been growing since the early 1840s when significant contributions to the advancement of the new medium were made by prominent members of the University. As a result, the collection is one of the oldest in Britain and has become one of the largest collections documenting Scottish culture and landscape.
Some of the strengths of the current collection are:
- early photographic materials
- international exploration and discovery
- motion and moving image photography
- portraits
- Scottish and local culture
- Scottish contemporary photography and social documentary
- Scottish topography
- sporting photography
- teaching materials
- war and conflict content.
The collections are continuously growing and changing in line with the University Library collecting policy together with academic requirements.