Historic English Midlands photo archive now online

The following may be of interest to those in Wolverhampton and the Black Country area of the English Midlands:

Launch of Digitised Express & Star photo archive

The first historic photographs to be saved from the Express & Star photo archive have been digitised and made available to the public via a free website.

Around 3,000 images of the history of the industrial past of the Black Country and its surrounding areas have been preserved for future generations and published on the website: https://photo-archive.expressandstar.co.uk/

The Express & Star Photographic Collection partnership received a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to produce a website and digitise photographs dating back over the past century.
The work realises the partnership’s ambition of making the photographs available through a single web portal, allowing free on-line public access to the unrivalled images of local events, momentous and every day, for the first time.

The first images to be published on the website include photos from the 1960s taken at steel industry operations across the region, images from the final years of mining and pictures of workers for brands with local heritage including Cadbury’s and Chubb.

The project partnership was set up back in 2008 by leading regional daily newspaper the Express & Star with the University of Wolverhampton and Wolverhampton City Archives to ensure the printed photos taken throughout the 20th Century were made available to the public via an online platform.

Development funding of £59,800 was initially awarded to the partnership in 2014, which includes Black Country community group representatives, to progress their plans. The funding support has seen vital archiving work carried out by a group of committed volunteers, followed by the digitisation of part of the collection and the development of the website by archive specialists Orangeleaf.
The Express & Star photo archive has been described as one of the most important regional photograph collections in the country, as it includes photographs of royal visits and speeches by Prime Ministers, through to images of local ways of everyday life which have been replaced in the modern world.

The industrial images were selected after a survey of 750 local respondents by heritage development consultants Tricolor Associates showed the subjects the public wanted to see prioritised were industrial history, the War years and the changing local landscape.

Express & Star editor Martin Wright welcomed the move to make the photos available to the public. He said: “We are delighted that the first photos have been brought back to life for local people to revisit their shared history, all on a website made available for free.

“We are grateful to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for supporting our partnership with the University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton City Archives and local community groups.

“Some printed images are deteriorating over time so the preservation work is vital. Thank you to all of the readers and members of the public who supported the project during the painstaking work needed to preserve the photographs.”

Scott Knight, of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Wolverhampton, has worked on the project since the initial partnership discussions in 2008. The University managed the grant and the digitisation work throughout the project. Scott said: “Preserving this valuable collection meets the University’s brief of making a lasting positive difference to the Black Country and the wider region.

“This collection is a historical source and captures hundreds of personal stories about the changes in life for the region, making it valuable to local people, as well as students and academics. We will work with the partners to apply for further grants and donations to preserve other sections of the collection.”

Heidi McIntosh, City Archivist for Wolverhampton, said the digital archive would be “a hugely important historical resource”. She added: “The City Archives gets regular enquiries from people wanting to trace old photographs from the Express & Star, many of which can be very time-consuming to find. This website is a stepping stone to providing wider access for people as they increasingly use digital tools.”

Chris Leggett, marketing and communications director of Express & Star publisher Midland News Association, chaired the project steering group. He said: “On behalf of everyone who worked on the project, I would like to thank all our partners and supporters for their combined efforts in preserving these photos for future generations. We are especially grateful to our volunteers, who gave a combined total of 260 days of goodwill time to help organise the physical archive ready for its transition to digital.”

Work will now begin on securing funding to preserve other historic photos, including local and mostly unseen images of World War II, as well as landmarks and places.

The collection includes wartime images which were not published due to government censorship and a photograph of American civil rights activist Malcolm X visiting Smethwick in 1965, nine days before he was assassinated. Following digitisation, the original images have been transferred to Wolverhampton City Archives where they will be preserved for future generations.

NB: For further information about the project visit https://photo-archive.expressandstar.co.uk/project/

Chris

My next Scottish Research Online course starts March 11th 2019 - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Details of my genealogical research service are available at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. For my Scottish and Irish themed books, visit https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Lost Glasgow website goes online

They've been on Facebook for a while at https://www.facebook.com/lostglasgowofficial but Lost Glasgow now has its own dedicated website at https://www.lostglasgow.scot.

From the site:

The ultimate Lost Glasgow fans' group where you can upload your own images to a wider audience. Photos must have a link with historic Glasgow or Glasgow's past. And if you don't own the copyright to the image, please specify in your caption where the picture comes from.

Lost Glasgow is devoted to the documentation, discussion and appreciation of Glasgow's changing architecture and its community throughout the last few centuries, and more!

Enjoy!

Chris

My next Scottish Research Online course starts March 11th 2019 - see www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Details of my genealogical research service are available at www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk. For my Scottish and Irish themed books, visit https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/p/my-books.html. Further news published daily on The GENES Blog Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Somerset and Dorset photography project

Somerset and Dorset Family History Society (www.sdfhs.org) is establishing a searchable database of photographs from the region, and is seeking public contributions. From the society:

Although you would be welcome to bring your photographs in to the Family History Centre at any time (just give us a phone call, to let us know you are coming), we intend to hold a series of Photograph Open Days, to be run by our inputting team, when we shall also have our experts available to advise on dating and caring for your photographs. Have a look at the ‘Events’ page on this website to check for dates arranged.

Once the project is up and running, we may be able to extend it beyond Sherborne, by seeking the aid of the Society’s Groups to run similar Photograph Open Days.

We do have some criteria we need to observe to keep the database relevant to Somerset and Dorset.

• The photographs must be of people born in, or who have lived in, one or both of the two counties.
• Ideally no more than 3 images of one individual, for instance taken in youth, aged 20- 50, and 50 +.
• At least one of the subjects needs to be identified by name.
• A location and date, if only approximate, is desirable.

We would also like to have your permission to supply copies of photos to other researchers (we would make a nominal charge for this service, to cover costs).

We would also be interested in any old photographs of places and buildings in the two counties with known family associations; for example houses, churches, halls, pubs and hotels, farms, factories, railway stations, and anything of this sort.

To keep things manageable, we may, regrettably, have to decline offers which fall outside of the guidelines above.

For further details visit http://www.sdfhs.org/sdfhs-projects/introduction-to-sdfhs-projects/a-hidden-resource/.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

HistoryPin website is redeveloped

The following announcement comes form the HistoryPin website (www.historypin.org):

We thought you’d like to be the first to hear about some major changes to the Historypin.org platform. We've been working hard to make Historypin the easiest way for heritage organisations and groups to come together around local history, and today we're excited to relaunch the site with some great new features:

Open Collections: You can create a collection of pins and anyone else can add to it
Re-designed Profiles: Showcase your pins in a new map and gallery view
A Community Forum: Connect with other people running local heritage activities to share experiences and find inspiration

As part of the updates, all pins now need to belong to a collection. To get you started we've created a collection for you with all your pins. You can share it, invite other people to add to it, rename it or move the pins into different collections.

We've also given Historypin a new look, but don’t worry, everything’s still there! You might want to read more about the changes in our blog (http://about.historypin.org/historypin-gets-an-upgrade/) or watch our 2 minute video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9zOgEztVjs).

All of this is brand-new and isn't perfect yet, but we’ll make it better together along with you, our community. We’d love to hear your thoughts about what you really like, what isn't clear and what could be improved.

(With thanks to HistoryPin)

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Francis Frith Collection images join Ancestry

Ancestry has added a new database entitled UK, City, Town and Village Photos, 1857-2005, containing images from the Francis Frith Collection. Despite the title, the collection includes images from across Britain and Ireland, not just the UK.

From the site:

The Francis Frith Collection contains photographs of almost every city, town and village in Great Britain, with some coverage of other countries including Ireland. The photos are primarily topographical - of towns, landmarks and landscapes. These include thousands of individual streets, churches, castles, landscapes, businesses, bridges, municipal buildings and locations that have been important in individuals' lives.

Founded by Francis Frith in 1860, the company published over 300,000 photographs which were sold to tourists as souvenirs, and later as postcards. Frith is recognised as one of the great pioneers of photography, having undertaken three expeditions up the Nile to record the pyramids and antiquities of the Middle East between 1857 and 1859. He is best known today for the amazing archive his company created. Today the Collection is famous as an outstanding record of British towns and villages over 110 years and provides a lot of information about everyday life over that period. The company continues to add to the archive and publish in the Frith tradition.

The collection is accessible at http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=60587 and can be searched by keyword or browsed by locality.

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including my recently released Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html.

PRONI's spiritualist photos - and my ancestor the spirtualist!

PRONI has a great Hallowe'en post on its site for its Document of the Month - a series of spiritualist photos from the 1930s. The images can be viewed at http://www.proni.gov.uk/news_details.htm?newsRef=3251

From the site: "The photographs remind us of the post-WWI period in which many personal tragedies were being played out. Many people had lost family members in WWI without having the opportunity to say goodbye. During the 1920-30s some sought comfort by trying to contact their missing loved ones through their belief in spiritualism"

In fact, my family has a very direct connection to this phenomenon, as my two times great grandfather Edwin Graham was the Secretary of the Ulster Christian Spiritualist Association in Belfast in the 1920s! Edwin was a welder who married three times - first to Florence Halliday (my two times great grandmother), then briefly to Matilda Blair, and finally Sarah Stitt (with whom he is pictured on the right, from 1939). Sarah was said to be a 'gifted medium' from Liverpool.

In 1926 Edwin was involved in an extraordinary story in Belfast City Cemetery. Here's the story from the Irish Times and then the London Times:

Wednesday, July 28th 1926

PHOTOGRAPHING SPIRITS

Remarkable Service in Belfast Cemetery

Our Belfast correspondent states that unusual scenes were witnessed at a Service held yesterday at the City Cemetery under the auspices of the local Christian Spiritualists' Association. The Service took place around the grave of Mrs McDermott, mother of Mr John McDermott, medium of the Association, who died about three weeks ago. Upwards of a hundred spiritualists, some of them carrying cameras, wre present and during the singing photographs were taken. Mr McDermott conducted the Service, which consisted of prayer, singing and an address.

Mr. Edwin Graham, secretary of the Association, explained that the Service was purely evangelical, and that many photographs had been taken with the object of photographing the spirits of departed friends of persons present at the grave. "It is a very hard thing," he added "to obtain spirit photographs". He added that when the photographs were developed, in a day or two, they would know whether they had succeeded in their object. Mr Graham explained that a special Service for Mrs McDermott had been held previously in the Hall. She was a native of Glasgow but had been in Belfast for the past year.

However, the Times also followed up the story in August:
Wednesday 18th August 1926

PHOTOGRAPHS IN A CEMETERY

Belfast Spiritualists Claim

The photographs taken in Belfast City Cemetery during the burial of Mrs McDermaid, wife of Mr John McDermaid, President of the Ulster Christian Spiritualist Association, with the object of recording the spirit forms of relatives which were believed to be hovering over the grave, were produced in Belfast last night.

The photographs, say our Belfast correspondent, are apparently out of focus. They show small white clouds over the people assembled round the grave. Mr McDermaid claims that in the photographs he can see the spirit forms of three departed relatives. Mr Edwin Graham, the Secretary of the Association, is convinced that he can see his brother. The Association invites inspection of the photographs.


The joys of genealogy - Happy Hallowe'en! :)

Chris

My next Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Records online course starts on November 5th, and runs for 5 weeks, priced at £45.99. Spaces are still available - see http://pharostutors.com/coursedescriptions.php#302

RCAHMW oral history project requires volunteers in Swansea

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales' CBA committee is looking for help with an oral history project in Swansea, to record stories about the city and to locate old photographic material.

For the full story visit the commission's blog at http://heritageofwalesnews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/call-for-volunteers-in-swansea-area.html

Chris

Now available for UK research is the new second edition of the best selling Tracing Your Family History on the Internet: A Guide for Family Historians, whilst my new book British and Irish Newspapers is also now out. And FindmyPast - please reinstate the original Scottish census citations on your new site.

Getty Images - the small print

Over the last couple of days there have been various reports concerning photograph library Getty Images, and its apparent decision to waive fees for the use of its images (see the BBC report, for example, at www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26463886). It is great news - except that there are lots of caveats.

The chief ones being:

1) Images cannot be used for commercial use
2) They must be embedded using Getty Images' own code (and they can introduce advertising into this at any point)
3) Images can only be used for newsworthy or public interest purposes

So potentially good news - but read the small print. Thankfully, the Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell, has done just that - read her concise interpretation of the contract law surrounding this new move on her must read blog at www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2014/03/07/getty-images-not-quite-free-to-use/.

(With thanks to Judy Russell)

Chris

My latest genealogy books are Tracing Your Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, and Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet. My next Pharos course is Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs, which commences May 14th 2014, 5 weeks, price £45.99.

The Genealogist - new photo archive

From The Genealogist (www.thegenealogist.co.uk):

Image Archive provides a window into the past
TheGenealogist is the first family history website to launch a dedicated ‘Image Archive’ that allows you to view both 3D and standard images. These historical pictures allow you to relive the past through the eyes of your ancestors. The standard images are free for everyone to search and view and cover the period from 1850 to 1940. See www.TheGenealogist.co.uk/ImageArchive

We all want to know more about the lives our ancestors led. Adding a picture to the family story is the perfect complement to any research. The Image Archive allows anyone to search and view images of towns, landmarks, churches, resorts, occupations and military campaigns. They also include images of social interest showing how your ancestors could have led their lives. You may even be able to find the church were your ancestor was baptised or married.

Diamond subscribers to TheGenealogist will be able to view and download the images in a high resolution format for extra clarity.

The Image Archive is fully searchable and is divided up into sections to allow you to find relevant images of interest, quickly and easily. You can search by Keyword or Title. All the images are tagged and rated for quality to further assist the researcher.

The Third Dimension
Hundreds of the images are available in stunning 3D to really bring the past to life!

With scenes of the hustle and bustle of ‘Market Day’ to the drama of war, there’s a selection to view as both 3D moving images and as 3D ‘Red blue’ images.

Many other scenes are available in a standard format to view, with images not only from the British Isles but also internationally, with scenes ranging from Aldershot to Zanzibar.

Nigel Bayley, Managing Director of TheGenealogist comments: “This is an exciting development for TheGenealogist. To provide the first designated archive to help people understand the lives of their ancestors and find images to use in their family history. With a number of images available in stunning 3D, it really draws you into a forgotten age.”

(With thanks to David Osborne)

Chris

My latest book, Discover Scottish Civil Registration Records, is now available from http://www.gould.com.au (print) and http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html (ebook), whilst Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet is available at http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-History-on-the-Internet/p/3889/. My next Pharos Scottish course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the OPRs, starts Nov 13th - see http://pharostutors.com.

Barnardos photos to be destroyed?

The British Photographic History forum has reported that the original images from Barnardo's photographic archive, housed in Barkingside, East London, are in danger of destruction following their digitisation in Manchester over the next few months - apparently it is taking up too much room.

For further details, including details of a petition to save it, can be found at http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2680769:BlogPost:72775

Unbelievable...

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

Remember Old Cardiff Facebook page

The Wales Online website has an interesting feature about a photographic nostalgia project on Cardiff - read Martin Wells interview with Evelyn Clarke, from the Remember Old Cardiff Facebook project, at www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/remember-old-cardiff-nostalgia-pictures-4871168

The project itself is accessible at www.facebook.com/RememberOldCardiff.

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My Scottish land and church records ebooks are available at http://www.gen-ebooks.com/unlock-the-past.html, whilst my next Pharos Scottish course, Scottish Research Online, starts Sep 4th - see http://pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. Time to smash a few brick walls...!

PRONI adds photos of Belfast to FLICKR

The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland has added some 200 photographs of Belfast from 1912-14 onto its FLICKR based platform at www.flickr.com/photos/proni

Taken by Belfast Corporation they include images from Little York Street; Millfield (including Gardiner Street, Brown Street and Boundary Street); mid Shankill (Hemsworth Street); Grovenor Road (Stanley Street); Hamill Street; Barrack Street; and Lower Falls (Christian Place); Mill Street; King Street; Divis Street; Manor Street; Crimea Street; Tate's Avenue; Chichester Street; Victoria Street; Cromac Square; Shankill Road; Woodvale Road and Antrim Road.

The full story is at www.proni.gov.uk/news_details.htm?newsRef=2685

(NB: 67 images there at time of viewing, but more are still to be added)

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. My next Pharos Scottish course, Scotland 1750-1850: Beyond the Old Parish Registers, starts May 15th - see http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/scotland-1750-1850-beyond-oprs-starts.html. Time to smash a few brick walls...!