Documentary Photography Archive: The Bolton Commission

In the autumn of 1990, the D. P. A. was approached by the independent, Liverpool based photographer, John McDonald. John was keen to undertake a project which looked at aspects of life in Bolton, some fifty years after Mass Observation. He was finding it difficult to attract funding and sponsorship as an independent operator. He therefore wished to collaborate with the D. P. A. He was prepared to assist with raising the funds, to undertake the commission in conformity with the normal practice of the D. P. A., and was happy to deposit the resulting material with the Archive.

Together we were ultimately successful in securing the necessary funding from the following organisations:

Bolton Metropolitan Borough: Arts Unit £500

Libraries & Archives £300

D. P. A. £900

Granada Foundation £1000

Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool £2000

Total £4700

John McDonald's interest in working in Bolton had been fuelled by representations of northern working class life in the 1930s, principally in the works of George Orwell and the photographs of Humphrey Spender. It was agreed that the commission brief should be left deliberately vague and undefined at the commencement to enable the photographer to develop his ideas in response to what he found. In the event the commission looked at the influence of the motor car on the contemporary environment, street life in general, factory work and, briefly, a maternity ward.

Work on the commission commenced in April 1991 and was concluded by the December of that year. The commission was shot throughout in black and white using 35mm film. In total some 1633 negatives were taken.