'Major new public future' secured for AmberSide Collection
Custodianship passed to university
The treasure trove of North East documentary photographs and films known as the AmberSide Collection is to be given over to the custodianship of Newcastle University.
It is part of a project called Relocating Amber, for which charity The AmberSide Trust has received £242,508 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF).
The Trust says the move, described as a loan, will ensure protection for the “world renowned collection” while enabling greater public access to it.
Comprising more than 20,000 photographs, around 100 films and other material documenting working class communities, mining, shipyards and other aspects of life in the North East and beyond, it will be cared for as part of the university’s Special Collections, housed at the Philip Robinson Library.
The AmberSide Collection, built up over more than 50 years, grew out of the work of the Amber Film & Photography Collective, founded in 1968, and Side, which opened on Newcastle Quayside in 1977 as a home for documentary photography and film.
It comprises the work of many photographers and film-makers, including Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Tish Murtha, Chris Killip, Graham Smith, John Davies, Ian Macdonald, Mik Critchlow and Alys Tomlinson.
Also in the collection is work by international photographers such as Diane Arbus, Weegee, Bill Brandt, Don McCullin, Susan Meiselas, Graciela Iturbide and Robert Doisneau.
In 2011, photographs by Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen and Amber’s films were inscribed on the UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register as being of “outstanding national value and importance to the United Kingdom”.
Meanwhile, and as part of Relocating Amber, Side, the delivery team for AmberSide Trust exhibitions, aims to work with partners to show the archived material more widely across the region via exhibitions, screenings, talks and other events.
These will take place in multiple venues now that the former Side Gallery, near Newcastle Quayside, has closed.
Amber Education will continue to use work from the collection in classrooms to help children understand and connect with the past.
Laura Laffler, managing director of the AmberSide Trust, said: “The AmberSide Collection was built through long-term relationships with communities across the North East.
“This project protects that work for the future while opening up ways for people to encounter and use the stories it contains.
“Through collaboration with Newcastle University, Side’s regional programme, Amber Education and our new curatorial office (at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art), we can care for the collection properly while sharing it more widely and supporting the next generation of documentary practitioners.”
Jill Taylor-Rowe, director of academic services and the Newcastle University Library, said: “Newcastle University is proud to partner with Amber to safeguard their incredible archive, which has documented and celebrated working class culture for more than 50 years.
“Our nationally accredited archive service will curate the collection to ensure that future generations may benefit from access to these resources.
“We look forward to enabling wider community engagement with the archive and are excited by the opportunities that will be afforded to students and researchers through having enhanced access to this iconic collection.”
Helen Featherstone of the NLHF (director, England, North) commented: “Preserving heritage is very important to us and we’re very proud to be able to support the safeguarding of this incredibly significant collection thanks to National Lottery players.
“Working with Newcastle University it is fantastic news that AmberSide Trust will unlock many new opportunities for the public to engage with this important archive that showcases and celebrates the wonderful heritage of the North East.”