A photograph entitled 'Close, No. 80 High Street', taken by Thomas Annan in 1868. The photograph shows a dark, narrow close, behind No. 80 High Street in Glasgow. Outside many of the doorways, groups of children are huddled on the floor and mothers gather at the far end of the narrow passageway. Washing hangs from poles attached to the sides of the tenement buildings.

A photograph entitled 'Close, No. 80 High Street', taken by Thomas Annan in 1868.

The photograph shows a dark, narrow close behind No. 80 High Street in Glasgow.

Outside many of the doorways, groups of children are huddled on the floor and mothers gather at the far end of the narrow passageway. Washing hangs from poles attached to the sides of the tenement buildings.

In 1868 the City of Glasgow Improvement Trust approached Thomas Annan to take photographs of some of the slum areas of the city prior to demolition. The resulting images are some of the earliest examples of documentary photography.