Paul Hill archive

Archive reference MS2294

The archive contains prints donated by lecturers and students attending the workshop; 100 of Hill's own photographs from c1975 onwards; 200 presentation copy photographs given to Hill over the years by photographers of international standing, such as Paul Strand, Lee Freidlander, and Thomas Joshua Cooper; 19th and 20th- century prints acquired by Hill, by such noted photographers as Bill Brandt and Edward Weston; portraits by Hill of many of the workshop leaders, including Martin Parr, Aaron Siskind and Hamish Fulton (all now artists with world-wide reputations); and documents and recordings of interviews and correspondence with Man Ray, Cecil Beaton and Brassai among others. Also in the collection are over 450 books and over 400 posters advertising photographic exhibitions. The latter demonstrate the increasing importance of independent photography in this period and its impact on the commercial world.

It documents Professor Paul Hill’s activity as an independent photographer, author, teacher, and lecturer from the 1970s to the present day. It includes photographs, books, periodicals, specialist magazines, catalogues, tape recordings, newspaper cuttings, letters, minutes of committee meetings, jottings and even Christmas cards which reveal the extent to which he influenced the course of serious photography not only in the UK but internationally. In so doing it preserves a unique record of an important phase in British photographic history: the creative photography movement that began in the 1970s, of which Hill was a key figure.

A full catalogue of the collection is available.