About The Francis Frith Collection

A valuable genealogical and historical resource

The Frith archive was founded by Derbyshire born Francis Frith who established a postcard company in 1860 and commenced the monumental project of photographing every town and village in the British Isles. These early photographs are still available for sale over 145 years later. Today the archive contains over 365,000 photographs of some 7,000 towns and villages. Taken between 1860 and 1970 they form a topographical record without equal, recognised as probably the only photographic collection of national importance in private hands in Britain today.

The importance of the Frith archive is as both a topographical and social record. It provides amazingly detailed visual evidence as well as illustrating the enormous social and structural changes which have taken place since 1860. Whilst some of the photographs are undoubtedly artistically outstanding, the real value of the archive lies in its scale. There is no other archive which can illustrate this period of British history so extensively or to such a high quality.

The quality of the Frith Photographs cannot be properly appreciated on a web site. The original negatives are fine grained and much larger than the 35mm film often used today. Prints can be produced of the highest resolution containing significant genealogical or historic detail. With the aid of a magnifying glass it is even possible to read the text of notices and the names of the proprietors above some of the shop fronts.

Hello Co UK has partnered with the holders of the Frith Photographic Collection in order to promote greater awareness of this wonderful genealogical and historical resource. The whole collection can be browsed from this web site without any formal subscription. Photographic quality prints may be purchased direct from the Francis Frith web site.

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