A collection of photographs from the 19th and early-20th centuries, collected by Michael and Jane Wilson. The collection comprises over 1,000 items, including loose prints, photographically-illustrated books, albums and photographic portfolios.

The collection is global in scope, with material from Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa, Australia and the Pacific islands. The material addresses the global spread of photography in the decades following its invention, showing how European travellers, entrepreneurs, colonial administrators and anthropologists documented life, landscapes, and people around the world. The majority of the photographers represented are of European origin, especially British and French, but there are also non-European photographers.

Also featured are early paper photographs by Hugh Owen, Fallon Horne, Hill & Adamson and others, and domestic scrapbooks and albums, with photographs pasted alongside sketches and ephemera.