Photographic materials are valuable sources of information which operate on several levels. They constitute important documentation for the work of the Wood Street Mission, with particular emphasis on the distribution of clothing and toys to poor children, and the operation of the holiday camps. They also provide visual evidence for a wider range of studies on, for example, the clothing of the poor and working series, the urban landscape, living conditions and recreational activities. Finally, the photographs themselves reveal technical developments in photography, and are thus important evidence for photographic historians.
The photographic materials have been divided into two sub-series: photograph albums (WSM/15/1); and unmounted photographs (WSM/15/2).