Every photograph in this archive is a piece of Scarborough's history.

Scarborough Photo Archive is a unique and extensive 'heritage' collection of previously unseen photos from Dobson’s Press Agency, founded in 1964 by the late photographer Dennis Dobson. Now re-branded, and curated by photographer and archivist Keith Meatheringham.

For more than sixty years, our photographers documented the people, places, events, businesses, news and sporting events, royalty, celebrities and everyday life that shaped Scarborough and the wider North and East Yorkshire communities.

Today, this remarkable heritage collection contains anywhere up to 250,000 historic images, most of which have never been seen by the public and still exist only as fragile photographic negatives. Preserving these images is a huge undertaking. Every negative must be carefully scanned, digitally restored and individually edited by hand to remove decades of dust, scratches and damage. This painstaking process not only brings historic photographs back to life but also protects them from the inevitable decay that threatens ageing film and negatives.

When you purchase a photograph from this archive, you are doing more than owning a piece of local history. You are helping to preserve Scarborough's heritage for future generations and supporting the ongoing work of uncovering, restoring and digitising thousands of unseen images that would otherwise remain hidden or be lost forever.

Your support helps ensure that the stories, memories and people of our communities continue to be seen, shared and remembered, leaving a lasting legacy.