Harold Baker Collection

Harold Baker was born in Birmingham in 1860, son of Samuel Henry Baker, an artist and one time president of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists.

Harold Baker opened his first photographic studio at 36 Cannon Street, Birmingham in 1886. Soon after, he was appointed photographer to the Birmingham Archaeological Society. Baker was taking photographs right up to his death in 1942 at the age of 82.

The collection consists of over 200 albumen prints, largely architectural and archaeological studies of buildings and sites in and around Birmingham c1870-1880.

Many of the photographs were taken for the Archaeological Section of the Birmingham and Midland Institute and can be cross-referenced with their catalogue. There are also some 500 half-plate glass negatives of architectural and historical subjects. A card index is available.

The collection can be viewed in Archives and Heritage Service on Floor 6 of Birmingham Central Library.

For more details Tel: 0121 303 4549 or
Email: archives.heritage@birmingham.gov.uk

Central Library Photographic Collections

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