British Culture Archive / The People’s Archive Limited
Effective date: 12th September 2026
Last updated: 12th September 2026
The People’s Archive Limited, trading as British Culture Archive (“BCA”, “we”, “us” or “our”), is committed to protecting your privacy and handling personal data responsibly.
This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use and share it, how long we retain it, and the rights available to you under UK data protection law.
This policy applies to visitors to our website, customers, newsletter subscribers, licensing clients, photographers and estates, contributors to The People’s Archive, project partners, suppliers and people who contact us.
Website: https://britishculturearchive.co.uk/
Contact page: https://britishculturearchive.co.uk/contact/
Email: contact@britishculturearchive.co.uk
The People’s Archive Limited is the legal entity responsible for British Culture Archive and The People’s Archive.
For the purposes of UK data protection law, The People’s Archive Limited is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.
Legal entity: The People’s Archive Limited
Company number: 12131244
Trading name: British Culture Archive
Country of registration: England and Wales
The personal data we collect depends on how you interact with us.
When you contact us, we may collect:
Your name
Email address
Telephone number, if supplied
Organisation or company name
The contents of your message
Any files or supporting information you provide
Records of our correspondence
When you purchase a print, book or other product, we may collect:
Your name
Email address
Telephone number
Billing address
Delivery address
Order details
Delivery instructions
Transaction references
Payment status
Records relating to cancellations, returns, refunds or customer support
Payments are processed by third-party payment providers, such as WooPayments or PayPal where available. We do not normally receive or store your complete payment-card details.
If you enquire about licensing an image, we may collect:
Your name and contact details
Your organisation or client
Billing information
Details of the image or collection requested
The intended use, territory, duration, format and audience
Publication, campaign or production information
Licence fees and payment records
Copies of licences, agreements and correspondence
We may retain licensing records to document the permissions granted and protect the rights of photographers, estates, clients and BCA.
For more information, visit https://britishculturearchive.co.uk/image-licensing/.
If you apply for or participate in photographer representation, we may collect:
Your name and contact details
Biography and professional information
Portfolio and image information
Copyright and ownership information
Payment and commission records
Bank or payment details where required
Contracts, permissions and correspondence
Details concerning an estate, representative or rights holder
For more information, visit https://britishculturearchive.co.uk/photographer-representation/.
When you submit photographs, captions, stories or related material to The People’s Archive, we may collect:
Your name and contact details
The submitted photographs or files
Captions, stories and contextual information
Dates, locations and names of people shown
Copyright, ownership and provenance information
Details of permissions or restrictions
Records of our correspondence with you
Photographs and uploaded files may contain metadata, including dates, device information or location data. Please remove any metadata you do not wish to share before submitting files.
When you subscribe to our mailing list, we collect your email address and, where supplied, your name and preferences.
Our email provider may also record information such as:
Subscription and consent status
Email delivery
Unsubscribe requests
Email opens and link clicks, where enabled and permitted
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link included in our emails or by contacting us.
When you use our website, we may collect limited technical information, including:
IP address
Browser and device type
Operating system
Approximate location derived from your IP address
Pages visited
Referral source
Dates and times of visits
Shopping-basket and checkout activity
Cookie preferences
Security and error logs
Some of this information is collected through cookies or similar technologies. Non-essential analytics and marketing technologies are used only where permitted and, where required, after you have provided consent.
We may collect personal data:
Directly from you
Through our website, shop, forms and email correspondence
Through newsletter subscriptions
Through order, payment and delivery providers
From photographers, estates, agents or authorised representatives
From licensing clients and project partners
From publicly available sources where appropriate
Through cookies and similar website technologies
If you provide personal data about another person, you must have a lawful reason or appropriate permission to provide it.
We may use personal data to:
Operate, maintain and secure our website
Process payments, orders, deliveries, returns and refunds
Respond to enquiries and provide customer support
Administer image licences and permissions
Manage photographer representation and rights
Manage submissions to The People’s Archive
Create editorial features, exhibitions, publications and cultural projects
Send newsletters and updates where consent has been provided
Analyse and improve website performance
Prevent fraud, misuse and security threats
Maintain financial, contractual and legal records
Establish, exercise or defend legal claims
Comply with legal, tax, accounting and regulatory obligations
We process personal data only where we have a lawful basis to do so.
Depending on the circumstances, our lawful bases may include:
We process information where necessary to:
Complete and fulfil an order
Provide customer support
Enter into or administer an image licence
Enter into or manage a photographer representation agreement
Take steps requested before entering into a contract
We may process and retain information where required to comply with:
Tax and accounting requirements
Company and consumer law
Court orders
Regulatory obligations
Other legal duties
We may process information where necessary for our legitimate interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights.
These interests may include:
Operating and protecting the BCA website
Responding to enquiries
Managing the archive and its intellectual-property records
Preventing fraud and unauthorised image use
Improving our services
Maintaining evidence of permissions and licences
Managing relationships with photographers, estates, clients and partners
Establishing or defending legal claims
We rely on consent where appropriate, including for:
Email newsletters and marketing
Non-essential cookies and analytics where consent is required
Certain submissions, permissions or uses of contributed material
You may withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect processing that took place lawfully before consent was withdrawn.
Documentary photographs, captions and archive records may contain personal data about identifiable people.
In some circumstances, archive material may reveal information relating to racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs, health, sexuality, trade-union membership or other sensitive matters.
We handle this material with care and process it only where we consider its use lawful and appropriate for legitimate archival, historical, cultural, educational, journalistic or editorial purposes.
Where an additional legal condition or exemption is required for sensitive information, we will identify and apply an appropriate condition.
Contributors should tell us about any known sensitivities, restrictions or rights concerns when submitting material.
BCA does not use archive photographs or customer information to train artificial-intelligence models.
We do not sell or rent personal data.
We may share limited personal data with trusted third parties where necessary, including:
Website hosting, maintenance, security and technical providers
Ecommerce and payment providers
Newsletter and email-service providers
Analytics providers, subject to applicable cookie choices
Professional print laboratories and fulfilment partners
Royal Mail, couriers and international delivery providers
Photographers, estates or rights holders where necessary for a relevant order, licence or project
Accountants, insurers, legal advisers and other professional advisers
Regulators, courts, law-enforcement agencies or public authorities where legally required
Examples of services used by BCA may include WooCommerce, WooPayments, PayPal, MailerLite, Google Analytics, Jetpack and delivery services such as Royal Mail. The services actually used may change as our website and operations develop.
Third-party providers receive only the information reasonably necessary to perform their services. Some providers may act as independent data controllers for certain activities, particularly payment processing.
If our organisation, business or assets are transferred or reorganised, relevant personal data may be shared with advisers and potential successors, subject to appropriate confidentiality and data-protection safeguards.
Some service providers may process or store personal data outside the United Kingdom.
Where personal data is transferred internationally, we take reasonable steps to ensure that an appropriate legal safeguard applies. This may include:
A UK adequacy regulation
The UK International Data Transfer Agreement
The UK Addendum to approved European contractual clauses
Another lawful transfer mechanism or applicable exception
You may contact us if you would like further information about the safeguards relevant to your personal data.
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to:
Operate essential website and shopping functions
Remember basket contents and preferences
Maintain website security
Understand website performance and usage
Support optional analytics or other non-essential functionality
Essential cookies may be placed where necessary for the website and shop to function. Where consent is legally required for non-essential cookies, those tec