The Copyright records in The National Archives offer an opportunity to put online a very rich and varied collection of photographs. The large number of photographs raise problems of providing users with adequate information of the type of visual resources available and the context in which they can best be understood. This paper looks at the practical problems involved in building the online resource and examines the ways in which they can be solved. Proposals are made whereby academic researchers can help to provide public access and contextual guidance linked to full cataloguing of archive records.