Collection: Laurence Goldman collection

Description

Comprising the work of a London-based amateur photographer, the coverage of this collection is unsurprisingly eclectic, ranging from personal, to artistic, to social - busy street markets in London - through to record photography of buildings. Many of the images were taken to exhibit at the Hampstead Photographic Society. Only those images with an architectural or 'heritage' related theme were afforded item level descriptions.

Over 80% of the coverage is concentrated in the south east (including East Anglia) with limited coverage in the north east, south west and Midlands; the northernmost counties of England, northwest region and Cornwall are not represented at all. Sites in and around Greater London account for over 40% of the total and of these over three-quarters depict the boroughs of central and north London, notably Westminster, Tower Hamlets, Barnet, Camden and the City.

Of the material catalogued at item level over half of the images show ecclesiastical buildings - many show details of the tombs, monuments, interior fittings and stained glass. Non-ecclesiastical subjects include docks and harbours reflecting family and business interests. There is also a series of views at sporting events such as Test matches at Lords and the Oval, and football matches at Fulham and Chelsea.

During the latter years of the 50s and 60s, Goldman recorded many examples of the redevelopment of Central London. Modern architecture also features, as in a group of shots showing new high rise blocks built in the Barbican, which he captured using unusual perspectives to create abstract images.

Archival History

Laurence Goldman was born on 2nd April 1911. He bought his first camera at the age of 8 and maintained a lifelong interest in the art of photography. Following early retirement from a business career, Goldman remained a keen amateur photographer, winning a number of awards for his work. On the 12th December 1961 he was admitted as an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society, and became a Fellow on the 14th December 1964.

As a member and President of the Hampstead Photographic Society, Goldman exhibited widely and won a number of awards. Prints produced for exhibitions and competitions are represented within this collection, together with a number of the medals and certificates.

Laurence Goldman died on the 14th August 1988 and the collection was transferred to National Monuments Record (NMR) following the death of his brother Maurice in 1994: it was purchased in 1995 by NMR Curation and Conservation Section via Mrs Jocelyn Stewart.

The collection was catalogued between November 2000 and May 2001. It is arranged into five series: photograph albums (GOL01/01), negatives and prints without files (GOL01/02), files containg contact prints (GOL01/03), exhibition catalogues (GOL01/04) and awards, medals and correspondence (GOL01/05). There is also a group of 570 large format, colour and black and white, mounted exhibition prints which are reprinted versions of the contact prints in the files.

During cataloguing all the negatives previously housed in files were removed, re-bagged and stored separately. Each file was given a unique sequential reference number written in pencil on the front cover. Each contact print within a file was also given a unique reference number. The mounted exhibition prints have been kept together in much the same order as when they arrived.

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© Historic England Archive