Coventry Digital

I should be good for that Ben

I curse not living closer The Wellcome Collection already have a significant number of the health reports but not all of them. Here. It's certainly worth doing the others. And or the photos. I'll make a list of those I think are missing. I've even managed to identify a number of the photographs within them. The clues about the photos are in the text, not under the photos themselves, so it's worth photographing the text too for the missing editions. There is a very nice collection taken of the building of Lady Herbert's Garden including demolishing Cook Street. Two boxes of photos - maybe negatives too but I can't remember. There is a lot more stuff from the war damage. There are some outstanding plans including full face on views of Cross Cheaping, Ironmongers Row and Butcher Row before they knocked them down but they'll need the massive scanners! All the Troughton's and a personal favourite of mine is the kids' sketches but finding them is a problem.

Steve and I ought to be able to make it.... this is where the fun really starts!

Examples of the rare but as yet unknown images from the Board of Health reports not on the Wellcome site. These are two from the same court closed in 1899. Missing Health reports:- Anything prior to 1893 (unlikely to have photos) 1899-1903 1906 1912 1916

Where are they Helen? Lovely

Sadly I don't know yet. I went through all the online versions and then photographed the interesting pics in the missing copies at the Herbert. Unfortunately the only clues about the photos are in the text and I didn't photograph that. I've worked out most of the photos but there are a few I'm still stuck on.

Dear all Thanks for the update. Neil, if you, Helen and Rob would confer on a priority list of assets, we can take that forward to the archive and work out an order for digitisation depending on what needs to be done, who can do it etc. I'm hoping that you will both be confident on the equipment by the end of June 3rd!

The priority list for me would be oldest, least accessible slides and negatives first. While many of them may have already been copied, we won't know until they're scanned. Streets before factories were built, backs of buildings, pokey courts, anything not generally photogenic. There are specific parts of the city where I'm looking for stuff but I suspect that they will crop up unexpectedly rather than by hunting for them. There is a lot of useful stuff hidden in individual files eg slum clearance folders and the war photos but they may be in film negative collections as well? The photos of the creation of Lady Herbert's garden are in two boxes of photos and are good records of that area. When you've been through what you can easily get hold of, I can work out where I found stuff that was more scattered and/or search Coventry Collections for likely candidates. The kids sketches are great but I accept that they're of niche interest. Others may be more interested in the outer areas as they were developed.

I'll go along with that!

We seem to have a consensus I'll add that damaged negatives or slides may be important as they may be of an area not reproduced before. I've found gems lurking in the corner of a familiar view. That includes the carnival images as they were sometimes in parts of the city not usually featured.

So just a reminder for this - Rob, Steve and I will be at the Archives for 10:00 on Saturday.

Heroes!

Dear all. We are on for tomorrow. Please use the new entrance at the Cathedral Square and be in between 1000-1200. The Wingrave plates have been brought out of their long term hiding place in the AV room (!). The plan is to create a list of things to scan by importance, scan the Wingraves, and then ensure everyone is happy with using the system.

Hope all goes well with the scanning. Sorry I can't help, coincidently, and I expect of no connection, I will be singing with the Wingrave (a village in Buckinghamshire just north of Aylesbury) Singers in Wakefield cathedral!

You mean Saturday Ben You going to be there?