香港博物館選擇了一八七〇年作為本攝影集的主題，一方面因為它距離現在恰巧一百年，但另一方面更因爲當時香港開埠三十年後，剛剛趨于穩定而受到重視。
這攝影集的圖片都是當時用攝影機拍攝的。到了一八七〇年，攝影已代替繪畫，來永遠保存人的顏容及紀錄地方的外貌。現在保存下來的、姿態端正的人像習作，爲數極夥。由於攝影家小心翼翼，技術嫺熟，曝光時間又相當長，因此一些人像頗爲動人而有永恆之感，可是，集體的紀念照片，可能最足以反映當時的情況，令百年後的今日，我們有無窮的玩味。這些照片紀錄了一八七〇年代的事件、時尚、和習俗，使我們記起當日香港純樸、刻苦、耐勞的人民。
The year 1870 as been chosen for this picture-story not only because it is one hundred years ago but because by that year Hongkong had reached a certain security and respectability after thirty years of existence as a British Colony.
The visual record of the 1870's has been made by the camera which was still at that time a novelty. By 1870 the photograph had already replaced the painting as a means of preserving the likeness of people and keeping fresh the memory of a place. Because of the care and skill of the photographer and the long exposures necessary, some of the photos have penetrating and timeless qualities. But it is perhaps the commemorative group photograph which is so typical of the period and provides an endless source of interest and amusement to us one hundred years later. It is these photographs that recall the events, fashions and customs of the 1870's and remind us of the period, both humble and illustrious, who lived in Hongkong at that time.
