Portrait of a Living Archive Exhibition

This exhibition is a photo-story that brings us face to face with some of the people who inhabit the collections of the John Rylands Library, and gives us their viewpoint from inside the archive.

When people think about libraries they tend to think of them as the ancestral home of written rather than visual culture. Many people, therefore, are surprised to discover that the John Rylands Library houses a significant visual collection. They are often astonished to learn that this collection is of international scope, importance and interest, containing paintings, drawings, sculptures, textiles, ceramics, prints, and engraved, as well as etched and painted books. What is perhaps even less well known is that the Rylands collection of photography is especially rich containing a comprehensive range of formats, processes, subjects, and genres including portraits.

Likewise when people think about specialist libraries, like the Rylands, they don’t necessarily realise that our collections are constantly growing and teem with the life of the living alongside the venerably dead. Many contemporary poets, novelists, artists, photographers, printers, and editors (to name but a few) are present in its collections.