Black and white image of a male figure statue standing over an outdoor fountain area outside the Homes and Gardens Pavilion at the Festival of Britain, 1951. Architects: Bronek Katz and Reginald Vaughan. Taken from the Design Council Archive housed at the University of Brighton Design Archives.

Catalogue number: DES-DCA-30-1-FOB-HG-62. Design Council Archive, University of Brighton Design Archives.

The University of Brighton Design Archives is to take part in a new project to create an unrivaled online image library, comprising over 500 hours of film and 56,000 photos, that will be available free of charge for at least 25 years to UK higher and further education institutions from Summer 2010.

Following £2.5 million in funding from JISC and a competitive procurement process during the first months of 2009, the Design Archives are one of eleven high-quality image collections licensed by JISC Collections as part of the Digital Images for Education initiative.

The key emphasis is on bringing to life “Our History” – in particular, film and digital images that capture local history, UK history and world history during the last 25 years. The Design Archives aim to deliver 2,300 images from across the wealth of its holdings.

Dr Catherine Moriarty, Curatorial Director, commented: ‘That the significance and potential of our collections has been recognized in this way is very important to us. This project means we’re in the centre of the action when it comes to the delivery of images for education. It builds on our previous imaging experience and this new digital stock adds to the 4,000+ images already accessible via the Visual Arts Data Service.’

http://imagesforeducation.org.uk/