Gunnersbury Park Museum is delighted to receive an Archives Revealed scoping grant from the National Archives and The Wolfson Foundation, which represents the first move towards understanding a recently acquired photographic archive. The museum serves the London Boroughs of Ealing and Hounslow, an area of unique history and great ethnic diversity. Gunnersbury has endeavoured to reflect modern communities in its collections and exhibitions since receiving a Heritage Grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2014.
We were delighted when Steven Manufor offered his father’s archive following a visit to our outdoor exhibition, Ealing Rises Up, a collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery. The archive is the work of a successful and talented Black photographer from Nigeria who came to London in 1960, with collections and themes of local and national significance. Images incorporate Stephen’s work as a local photographer at weddings and graduations, as an Ealing Council Race Relations Officer, his support of the Republic of Biafra, and his work as a freelancer photographing landmarks such as the American Embassy and the Serpentine Gallery.