The Janette Rosing Collection at Historic England

As part of the RPS Historical Group's series of talks looking at historical collections of photography, photographic archives, and those working historical and alternative processes this talk looks at the work of the Janette Rosing Collection of photographs which has been acquired by Historic England. It is presented by Ian Savage, Collections Manager, and hosted by Richard Fattorini who was instrumental in finding the new home for the collection. The talk explores the remarkable Janette Rosing Collection, recently acquired by the Historic England Archive through the UK Government’s Acceptance in Lieu scheme. The collection comprises over 8,000 historical photographs collected by Janette Rosing (1942–2021), an esteemed photographic consultant and collector. Rosing assembled images spanning the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, encompassing England’s architecture, landscapes, coastal scenes, maritime history, built heritage, street life and vistas of everyday life. Taken by leading practitioners of the time, including W.G. Campbell, George Washington Wilson, Linnaeus Tripe, Samuel Smith of Wisbech, James Mudd and others, the photographs illustrate 19th-century photographic innovation across processes such as calotype, collodion, dry plate and platinum. Ian will discuss the collection and display its potential significance for understanding the history of photography in Britain, as well as the social and architectural history it reflects. He will also briefly cover the work of the Historic England Archive itself, including how the Archive is preserving, cataloguing, and preparing the collection for public access, highlighting the ongoing work involved in making such collections available for research and interpretation. Ian Savage is Collections Manager at the Historic England Archive, where he oversees both physical and digital holdings. His responsibilities include photographic preservation, digitisation, and facilitating access. He has particular expertise in historic photography and architectural heritage, with strong interests in archive collections and photographic culture. Ian has had a long career in photography and in managing photographic collections, and he is especially interested in how archives can help deepen understanding of social and architectural history.