Ministry of Education , Architects and Building Branch Department of Education and Science , Architects and Building Branch

The Architects and Building Branch was formed in 1949 by the merger of the Architects Branch and the Buildings and Priority Branch of the then Ministry of Education, thus bringing together both administrative personnel and professional architects into one multi-disciplinary team. During its influential work overseeing central government policy relating to school architecture and specific building programmes, its staff accumulated large collections of photographs, slides and associated materials. On the initiative of one member of staff, David Medd, the collection was brought together at some stage in the 1990s. Whilst the photgraphic prints seem to have already formed a core collection for the use of all staff, the slide collection (DC/ABB/C) was assembled by David Medd from numerous individual sources in the Architects and Building Branch such as abandoned boxes, drawers and cupboards. The transparencies were not taken by professional photographers, but by architects and others when visiting sites to supplement investigation work or to record progress or building projects undertaken by the Branch and did not form a single collection, but were kept by these individuals as an adjunct to their work.