Noor Ali Rashid Archive’s mission is to restore and preserve the collection of the late photographer Noor Ali Rashid work and to promote the art of photography and photojournalism in the region. The collection features the photographic works of Noor Ali Rashid ranging from the late 1940s-early 1950s until 2010. It includes around a million photographs, consisting of film-based negatives, positives, Black & White and colour images, digital files in addition to other photographic media such as Polaroid.

Noor Ali Rashed arrived from India in 1960 in Dubai, at the time of the oil boom and worked as freelance photographer. As the country grew wealthier under the reign of Sheikh Zayed, he was appointed as one of the official photographers of the Emir.
His collection of portraits of the ruling family became national heritage even before the death of the Emir. After Noor Ali Rashid passed away, his daughter Shamsa Ali Rashed took over the collection and initiated a foundation to conserve and promote her father’s work.

His photos are published in several books such as The UAE formative years (1965-1975), and 40 years life of the UAE (1971-2011). The collection isn’t available to the general public.