British Culture Archive
How we use personal information, care for archive material and respect your privacy choices.
Last updated: 9 November 2026
British Culture Archive (“BCA”, “we” or “us”) is a trading name of The People’s Archive Limited, company number 12131244, registered in England and Wales. We are the data controller for personal information we use to run our website, shop, archive and services.
This policy covers visitors, customers, licensing clients, photographers and estates, contributors, subscribers, partners and people who contact us. Email contact@britishculturearchive.co.uk about privacy. Our postal contact and full company details are in the Terms & Conditions.
What we collect depends on your relationship with BCA:
Information comes from you, your use of the website, payment and delivery providers, photographers, estates, contributors and project partners. Archive research may also use published or other publicly available sources. Do not send unnecessary sensitive information or private details about other people.
We use personal information only where a lawful basis applies. The main purposes and bases are:
We ask for information needed for the service you request. Without necessary contact, delivery, payment or rights information, we may be unable to fulfil an order, issue a licence or consider a submission. Optional information is identified where it is requested.
We use MailerLite to manage newsletter subscriptions and email campaigns. Subscription and consent records help us send the updates you request and honour your choices. Email delivery, opens and link clicks may be recorded where enabled and lawful; connected shop information may also be used for relevant campaign reporting.
Buying a product, sending an enquiry or contributing a photograph does not, by itself, give consent to newsletter marketing. Unsubscribe using the link in an email or contact us. Withdrawing consent does not affect earlier lawful processing or necessary messages about an order, licence or account.
We may keep a limited suppression record so that we do not send further marketing to someone who has opted out.
A photograph, caption or personal account can be personal information when it identifies a living person. This includes material we receive from someone other than the person depicted. We consider the source, purpose, context, reasonable expectations and possible impact before using it.
Material may reveal sensitive information, such as health, ethnicity, political opinions, religious beliefs, trade-union membership or sexual orientation. Where special-category data is processed, an additional legal condition is needed, unless a relevant exemption applies. Explicit consent, archiving conditions or protections for journalism, art and literature are used only where their specific legal requirements are met.
Calling material an archive does not automatically exempt every use from data-protection law. Commercial licensing and other new uses require their own assessment.
Contributor agreements deal with copyright and publication permissions; they do not waive data-protection rights. Tell us about restrictions or sensitivities when submitting material. For project entries involving children, a parent or guardian should be involved, and any separate entry rules also apply.
If you appear in material and have a concern, contact us with a link or enough detail to locate it. We will consider the circumstances, your rights and any applicable freedom-of-expression or archival protections.
We share information relevant to the service, rather than giving partners general access to customer or subscriber lists. Recipients can include:
BCA acts as agent for relevant photographers and estates, as explained in our terms. That role does not remove BCA’s responsibilities for the personal information it controls. A recipient that determines its own purposes, including a payment provider or rightsholder, may act as a separate controller.
We do not sell customer or subscriber lists. Publishing or licensing archive photographs may involve sharing personal information contained in the work itself. Relevant records may also be shared during a business transfer, subject to appropriate safeguards.
Some providers and project recipients may process information outside the UK, including in the European Economic Area and the United States.
Restricted international transfers require a valid legal mechanism. Depending on the recipient, this may be UK adequacy regulations, approved contractual safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum, or a specific exception where its conditions are met.
Contact us for information about the destination and safeguards relevant to your data, including how to obtain a copy. Providers also publish information about their processing in their own privacy notices.
The website uses cookies and similar technologies for shopping sessions, security, preferences and measurement. Google Analytics and Jetpack help us understand site use. These services can process identifiers and technical information; measurement data is not necessarily anonymous.
Technologies strictly necessary for a service you request can operate without consent. Other technologies require consent unless a specific legal exception applies. Your browser can block or delete cookies, although this can affect checkout or other functions. Browser settings are additional controls, not a substitute for any consent the law requires.
See our Cookie Policy for further information. External links and embedded media may involve other providers whose own privacy notices explain their processing.
Retention depends on the purpose and legal requirements, rather than one period for every record:
We assess continued need by reference to the relationship, sensitivity, purpose, legal duties and potential claims. Information no longer needed is deleted or anonymised, subject to necessary backup and legal retention.
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures, including controlled access, secure hosting and backups, to protect information. No online system can be guaranteed completely secure. Please avoid sending full payment-card details or unnecessary sensitive information by email.
BCA does not use solely automated decision-making that has legal or similarly significant effects on you. Payment and security providers may use automated fraud or risk checks under their own notices. Contact us if you need help with an issue affecting an order.
Depending on the circumstances, you can ask to access your personal information, correct inaccuracies, erase it, restrict its use or receive and transfer information where the right to portability applies. You can withdraw consent at any time where processing relies on it.
You can object to processing based on legitimate interests, explaining your particular situation. You can object to direct marketing at any time, including related profiling.
Email contact@britishculturearchive.co.uk to exercise a right. No particular form is required. We may ask for proportionate information to confirm identity or authority to act.
Requests are normally free and answered without undue delay, usually within one month. If the law permits an extension or another exception, we will explain it. Rights are not absolute: legal retention, other people’s rights and applicable archival or freedom-of-expression protections may affect the outcome. We will explain any refusal and how to challenge it.
If you think BCA has mishandled personal information, email contact@britishculturearchive.co.uk or write to our company postal address. Describe what happened and the outcome you are seeking. You do not have to use a particular heading or form.
We will acknowledge a data-protection complaint within 30 days, investigate it, keep you informed as appropriate and explain the outcome without unjustifiable delay. A rights request made alongside a complaint follows its own response deadline.
You also have the right to complain to the UK regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office. Contacting BCA first can help resolve an issue, but does not remove that right.
We will update this policy when our activities or legal requirements change. The revision date appears at the top. Where a significant change requires further information or a new choice, we will provide it as appropriate.
For privacy questions, requests or complaints: contact@britishculturearchive.co.uk.
For postal contact, see our company details. For copyright, purchases and contributor permissions, read the Terms & Conditions.