The Survey Section of the Edinburgh Photographic Society was set up in 1899 with two goals: to collect images of the city from its past (paintings, prints) and to conduct a systematic record of Edinburgh in its present (photographs). The group was part of a wider movement of photographic societies across Britain alarmed by the pace of urban change. Inevitably, the crumbling buildings of the Old Town proved to be the most enticing subject, including images of children and beggars. The Survey Section’s work was conceived as an effort to salvage the past, with photography deemed the most effective weapon to prevent old Edinburgh from being further ‘swept away’.