The original idea of Stoneman was for storing visual records rather than distributing them. However, parts of the collection were occasionally exhibited to the public, for example at the Royal Photographic Society in 1922 and 1924, at the studios of J. Russell & Sons in Baker Street in 1931, and at Foyles Art Gallery in 1943. The fees collected from such exhibitions and from reproductions of the photographs were shared between Stoneman and the NPG. These exhibitions also helped boost his reputation and increase his clientele. Up until his death Stoneman had been the sole official photographer for the NPR. After his death, the NPR project continued with Walter Bird as photographer until 1967, when he was succeeded by Godfrey Argent who continued the project until it was stopped in 1970. By then, the collections counted more than 10,000 photographs.