Thomas Annan Collection

 

A collection of over 500 photographs of nineteenth century Glasgow and the surrounding area.

Thomas Annan (1829 -1887) was the son of a Fife farmer and flax spinner and lived for most of his life in Glasgow.  

 

After training and working as a copperplate engraver, he acquired patent rights in the photogravure process invented by William Henry Fox Talbot and set up his photographic studio in Sauchiehall Street in 1857.

 

Annan concentrated initially on architectural photography but then turned his attention to portraits. He is remembered as a photographer of Scottish worthies, including David Livingstone.

 

In 1866 Annan was commissioned by the Glasgow City Improvement Trust to photograph slum areas in the old part of the city before urban renewal took place.  This resulted in the landmark series of photographs, Old Closes and Streets of Glasgow, which was published between 1868 and 1877.

Other Annan photographic projects:

  • the building of the Loch Katrine Waterworks, 1859-1877
  • portraits of David Livingstone, Horatio McCulloch, Joseph Noel Paton and Daniel MacNee
  • the controversial Munich painted windows in Glasgow Cathedral, 1867;  many of these have been removed and replaced
  • a series of photographs of the Old Country Houses of the Old Glasgow Gentry, 1870

 

Annan's reputation as a pioneering photographer grew throughout the latter part of the 19th century. His brother Robert joined the business (at which point it was renamed T. & R. Annan) and later by Thomas’s son, James Craig.

 

James built upon his father's success and in September 1889 the company received a Royal Warrant as 'Photographers and Photographic Engravers to Her Majesty in Glasgow'.

 

The business survives to this day: the Annan Fine Art Gallery is located on Woodlands Road in the West End of Glasgow.

 

Images from this collection were digitised as part of a SCRAN project. If you are using a PC located within Glasgow Libraries, then you can use this link to their Web site to view illustrations from the collection online by using 'thomas annan' as your search term. 

 

Glasgow In Panorama

A series of photographs taken from the University of Glasgow Tower in 1905 and again in 2005.