Museum, library and archive collections

Images produced through projects to digitise selected Oxfordshire History Centre collections, images created by previous Oxfordshire County Council heritage organisations, and images from selected independent museums.

Tap or click on the buttons below to view the collections on Picture Oxon, or to learn more about them.

Collection Date span Number of images Percentage digitised Area covered Link to:
Abingdon Museum 1880-1930s 1,097 10% Abingdon and surrounding villages View collection
Banbury Library 1840-1939 132 100% Banbury buildings, street scenes and events View collection
Banbury Museum 1880-1980s 3,911 69% Banbury and Banburyshire, including the work of Morland and Bartlett View collection
Beesley 1610-1870 (chiefly) 1,959 99% Alfred Beesley's extra illustrated copy of his History of Banbury (17 volumes, 1841) covering Banbury and Banburyshire More information

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Centre for Oxfordshire Studies 1600-2009 (chiefly post-1880) 16,642 81% Miscellaneous image collections covering Oxford and Oxfordshire, donated or purchased 1991-2010 View collection
Early 1850-1998 2,332 95% Early Blanket Company - factory buildings and processes at Witney, and personal photos from Early family View collection
Elford 1903-1914 4,540 100%% Percy Elford's survey of Oxfordshire elementary schools, including photographs and plans More information

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Historic maps 1550s-1930s 1,311 56% Images of historic printed maps of Oxford and Oxfordshire, including some zoomable ones View collection
Oxford City Council Heritage 1949-1992 1,359 97% Oxford streets, buildings and interiors. Images created by City Council staff, under planning and conservation legislation. Includes the 1949 and 1957 citywide surveys of shops and poster advertising. Read our blog

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Oxford City Museum 20th century 340 2% Construction and building work on public and University buildings in Oxford View collection
Oxford High School for Boys 1870s-2007 821 99% Groups photos, portraits and images from scrapbooks, school journals and the Oxford Old Boys Club minute book View collection
Oxford Journal Illustrated 1909-1928 18,109 20% Newsprint images from the Oxford Journal Illustrated newspaper View collection
Oxford Monthly 1923-1945 1,835 100% Advertisements and other half-tone images from the magazine, Oxford Shoppers' Monthly View collection
Oxfordshire County Libraries 1700s-1990s 31,739 16% Miscellaneous image collections covering Oxford and Oxfordshire, donated or purchased 1970s-1991 View collection
Oxfordshire Health Archives 1900-1987 639 91% Hospital buildings, equipment, staff, aerial photos, printed and manuscript sources View collection
Oxfordshire History Centre c. 1900-2022 2,853 99% Miscellaneous image collections covering Oxford and Oxfordshire, donated or purchased 2011 onwards View collection
Oxfordshire Museums Service 1870s-1990s 7,161 98% Oxfordshire Museums staff fieldwork images of local antiquities, buildings, industries, crafts and customs. Also miscellaneous donated and copy photographs. View collection
Parish Packages 15th century-2000 4,998 100% Images of a mix of Oxfordshire urban and rural communities (Cowley, Carterton, Hanney, Neithrop, Standlake, Thame), selected for a Lottery-funded project in 1999-2000. Includes portraits and images of buildings, street scenes, local industry, and extracts from maps, documents and printed ephemera. View collection
Pendon Museum 1956 137 100% Traditional rural buildings in Vale of White Horse villages, Badbury, Bishopstone, Knighton, Uffington, Letcombe Bassett and Letcombe Regis - used as reference for the Museum's model railway landscape. View collection
Pressed Steel 1930, 1954-1980 949 62% Photographs of Pressed Steel factory buildings and processes (Cowley), social and sporting events, and printed ephemera View collection
Prints and drawings 1620s-2000s (chiefly 1700-1899) 3,973 84% Views of the City and University of Oxford, including panoramas, street scenes and individual buildings. Stately homes, churches and landscape scenes around Oxfordshire. More information

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SMR Historic Buildings 1987-1989 9,811 99% Photographic survey of Oxfordshire listed buildings (exterior views), created by Oxfordshire County Council Sites and Monuments Record View collection
Thames Pilot 1700s-1930s 1,372 100% Prints and photographs of the River Thames and riverside buildings and scenes, from source to sea. Images were collected together in a partnership project with other archives and museums in 2004. View collection
Vale and Downland Museum 1900-2003 1,435 100% Vale of White Horse aerial views, townscapes, villages, vernacular buildings, churches, people and events View collection
Your House My House 1900-2000 978 100% Images created in the course of a partnership project, studying the development and change of five Oxford suburbs: Jericho, North Oxford, Rose Hill, Florence Park, Blackbird Leys View collection