Welcome to Picture the Past

Welcome to the 'Picture the Past' website. This website is run on behalf of the local authorities of Derbyshire, Derby and Nottingham by Heritage Digital Limited, a company based in the East Midlands specialising in digital preservation and online access to digital images.

'Picture the Past' aims to conserve and make publicly accessible the photographic heritage of the East Midlands, enabling people to see the richness and diversity of the area's photographic collections.

Many images in the collection are irreplaceable. Digitisation protects the originals from wear and tear and enables users all over the world to view the collection via the Internet. One of the key objectives of the project is the digital preservation of heritage images for future generations.

Images on this website may be downloaded for personal or commercial use and may also be purchased as prints or as gifts. Purchases made through this website contribute to the maintenance of the Picture the Past website and a proportion of revenue is also paid to the local authorities and to copyright holders.

We have very little information about some of the images in the collection. We welcome any information that you can provide to improve our knowledge about a particular image. If you can help, please email us at info@picturethepast.org.uk quoting the image reference number.

Don't forget that new images are constantly being added to the database, so check back frequently or sign up to our newsletter for regular updates.

We hope you enjoy using the website and you find images that are relevant to you.