Royal College of Art.

The Royal College of Art was founded in 1837 as the Government School of Design. In 1853 the School moved to South Kensington where it became the much enlarged National Art Training School, part of the development of the area by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851. The title Royal College of Art was conferred in 1896 with the emphasis on art and design practice. In the mid-20th century the College began the teaching of product design and the provision of specialised professional instruction including graphic and industrial design. The 1960s were a time of physical expansion and a Royal Charter in 1967 gave the College independent university status with the ability to award its own degrees.

Student activity at the Royal College of Art is reflected in the development of projects within individual departments, culminating in the exhibition of work in the annual graduate shows. Since the mid 20th century, when teaching of product, graphical and technical design began, a comprehensive pictorial record has been kept of student work. Work from the annual degree shows has been photographed as comprehensively as possible since the 1960s; in 1979 this effort was centralised with the RCA's slide library assuming responsibility for photography and cataloguing. Images are stored as prints and slides covering the years up to and including 2002, after which a move to born-digital photography, cataloguing and delivery was effected.