“When I Was a Girl…”: Women Talking about Their Girlhood Photo Collections

Abstract

In 1955, aged 15, Carol started a photograph album. Not having a camera of her own, Carol collected photographs taken by other people, including her parents, older sisters, and friends. She also included pictures she had taken using her mother’s camera. This magpie collection was added to for a couple of years and then put away. In 1965, 17-year-old Irene similarly began compiling a photograph album. This focused on two summer holidays. Having a camera of her own, a gift for her 14th birthday, Irene’s collection contained mainly photographs that she had taken. Irene and Carol were not unusual in collecting photographs and making albums; these were common practices amongst middle-class girls growing up in England in the 1950s and 1960s.