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The series consists of ca. 5500 glass dry plate negative portraits created by John Savannah at his Victoria studio, between ca. 1894 and his death in 1925. While most of the photographs are studio portraits of individuals, including many babies and children, there are also family groups and bridal parties as well as sports teams, professional groups and the occasional outdoor shot of a building or other structure. In some cases, Savannah took photographs of photographs, presumably for clients who wanted new prints of their family photos.

The negatives were stored in batches of 12 to 16 in the original glass plate boxes. The boxes were numbered from 1 to 1033 with many duplicates and gaps. Each original box was usually accompanied by the box cover which listed the names of the people who either ordered the photograph or were subjects of the portraits for that box. The plates in the box were stored in the order of the list and may be numbered in some cases. Many of the names were written on the negatives by Savannah using white pencil, along with the number and type of copy prints requested.

There are several duplicate box numbers, with the first instance of the number containing 13 x 18 cm negatives and the second instance of the same number containing 16 x 22 cm or 21 x 25 cm negatives. Several box lids with index information are missing and there are also individual missing negatives. The location of the majority of Savannah's original boxes is unknown. The negatives have been arranged in original box and plate number order, and are accompanied by the original box cover where it exists.