The Picture Post Historical Archive, 1938-1957 caters for all levels of cross-disciplinary research across the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. Below is a small sample selection of  research areas addressed by the archive:

Fashion

        
Women readers kept up to date with the latest fashions via reports from Paris and America.
James Laver traces the history of the corset for the modern woman and a Parisian milliner launches her autumn range of hats (1956)

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Film

   
Celebrity photographs, interviews and film news were a popular feature of the paper:
Marilyn Monroe before starting rehearsals for The Prince and the Showgirl and Audry Hepburn (1955)

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Korean War


Teams of journalists and photographers were sent off to cover the Korean War. They reported on the the execution of South Koreans whilst under the guard of British and US regiments (1950)

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Popular Culture

       
The archive charts popular entertainment  from the 30s to the 50s and chronicles the rise of youth culture and jazz.

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Science & Technology

   
As tensions grew between East and West post-WWII, the paper documented the latest - and most deadly - advances in science and technology including the Atom Bomb (1948)

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Theatre


The paper regularly reported on theatre news in the London capital, the regions and abroad profiling actors, playwrights and theatre managers. Plans to build a National Theatre in S.Kensington (1939)

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World War II

   

During WWII  an estimated 80% of the British population read the Picture Post. A propoganda-style cover from the start of the war
comparing British and Nazi Youth (1940) and the beginning of the evacuation of children from London to the country.

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