The Brady Photographic Archive is an online photography, memorabilia, and oral histories archive documenting the history of the Brady Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs.

Archive Description

The Archive constitutes a collection of hundreds of photographs taken between the 1930s and the late 1970s at the Brady Boys’ Club in Durward Street E1 (est. 1896), and Brady Girls’ Club in Hanbury Street E1 (est. 1925) in London’s East End. In 1960 the Brady boys joined the girls in Hanbury Street.

This archive of photographs, memorabilia and oral histories is based on a cache of several hundred photographs that had been ‘lost’ for many years. The initial collection of photographs had been rescued by journalist and former editor of the Sunday Times Hannah Charlton (who had an interest in youth culture) when the Museum of Labour History in Limehouse closed. They were stored in an attic awaiting the right project but subsequently forgotten for nearly 40 years until Hannah rediscovered them in 2016, when they found their way back to the East End and to Susan Andrews, Reader in Photography at the Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University.

In 2017, in order to discover more about the history of the photographs, an exhibition entitled, ‘Nostalgia is Not Enough’, was organised at the former Art School building opposite the Whitechapel Gallery, during which a group of old Bradians visited. Consequently, a committee was established to identify the photographs and re-establish connections with former Brady Club members. Since then, the committee has worked to produce further exhibitions examining the histories of the Brady Boys’ Club, the Brady Girls’ Club, and the legacy of the Clubs.

The Brady Photographic Archive website contains a greatly expanded selection from the cache of ‘lost’ photos that forms the basis of the collection, held at the Bishopsgate Institute in London, where the physical collection can be viewed by the public. The online collection continues to evolve as former Brady members contribute photographs, their personal histories, and memorabilia from their personal collections. Further items of Brady Clubs’ photographs, memorabilia, and particularly magazines and architects’ plans, can be found at Tower Hamlets Library and Archives.

Online Accessibility

The archive photographs can be found freely available on the Brady Archive website. A growing collection of edited oral histories that provide context to the Brady story and the lives of its members is available at the Brady Memory Map. You can stay up to date with the work of the Brady Photographic Archive on Instagram.

Enquiries about the archive collection can be made on the website’s contact page.

https://www.bradyarchive.co.uk