Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African Photographs

Scope and Contents note

The Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African photographs includes about 6,500 photographs organized in 75 primary collections of separate albums, scrapbooks or loose collections. Primary collections range from a single photograph to a set of several photograph albums plus envelopes of loose photographs. Assembled by the British collector Humphrey Winterton over about 30 years, the collection depicts the breadth of African experience, documents African life, European life in Africa in all its manifestations and the African landscape, in particular as it changed over time. Included are photographs showing the building of East Africa's railways, the growth of its urban centers and the development of European colonial administration. The photographs extensively document rural life as well as the travels and work of European colonial officials and private businessmen. There are outstanding examples of portraiture some of which were taken by commercial studios. Other photographs produced by commercial studios were specifically taken for sale and distribution in Europe and North America. The Winterton Collection also provides an unsurpassed resource for the study of the history of photography in East Africa.