Thanks to a £100,000 funding award from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in January 2024, Manchester Libraries has been able to develop the new Manchester Image Archive and to hire a project manager to oversee it.
Currently hosting more than 90,000 images, the upgraded website features a much larger archive with the additional 12,000 images catalogued by a dedicated team of volunteers and through partnership work with The Museum Platform.
The improved system makes it easier than ever to search and discover images of local landmarks, people, and events. Some of the new and improved features include advanced search tools and high-quality image downloads and interactive features to allow users to share memories with libraries and to create their own library of images.
Additional features include:
- Larger digital images with zoom functionality
- An improved and intuitive user interface
- Simplified and powerful search tools
- Commenting feature to share memories or provide us with new information
- Create and share your own galleries of your favourite images
- Streamlined licensing functions so you can purchase images with ease
- A blog area exploring our collection
Councillor John Hacking, Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure said:
"We have been developing this new collection since May last year and have partnered with a great team at The Museum Platform to help us build this new resource. We are thrilled to be able to offer a bigger and better website for all to use and thanks to the hard work of the volunteers and the support of the National Lottery funding we have been able to create a resource that will benefit generations to come."
Explore the Manchester Image Archive website here