Did you know the Library now has access to the Picture Post Historical Archive? This database comprises the complete archive of the Picture Post from its first issue in 1938 to its last in 1957 – all digitised from originals in full colour.

You can access the Picture Post Historical Archive via the Databases A-Z list or the Newspapers, magazines and other news sources guide. Access via DiscoverEd will also soon be possible.

Picture Post was a photojournalistic magazine, often seen as the UK equivalent of Life, that was considered a groundbreaking example of photojournalism and was hugely successful from its first issue and throughout the 1940s. At its peak it is estimated its readership was 80% of the British population. In the era before television, it became the window on the world for ordinary people, bringing the major social and political issues of the day into popular consciousness.

Picture Post (London, England), December 15, 1945; pg. 10; Issue 11

Above all, Picture Post provides a fascinating snapshot of British life from the 1930s to the 1950s, with thousands of photos of ordinary people doing ordinary things – from boys rolling a tyre, to a view of a postwar bedsit, to young women on a rollercoaster – all caught in a single moment in time.

You can access the Picture Post Historical Archive via the Databases A-Z list or the Newspapers, magazines and other news sources guide. Access via DiscoverEd will also soon be possible.

The Library has access to a large number of digitised magazine and newspaper archives, you can find these on the Newspapers, magazines and other news sources guide.

Access is only available to current students and staff at the University of Edinburgh.

Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for History, Classics and Archaeology