In a basement at Shrewsbury's archives library a huge stack of plain brown boxes lay on shelves in rows 24 high. Between them, they contain 45,000 photos, some dating back to the 19th Century and about many of which almost nothing is known. Some 23,000 images have already been catalogued by volunteers since 2006 but almost the same number again are lacking simple information on the scenes, events and people depicted.
Volunteering for Shropshire's Heritage, a three-year Heritage Lottery-funded project, hopes to recruit a team of volunteers to complete the photo archiving job. About 15 volunteers are currently involved with the project, and more volunteers are required.
All of the photos that are catalogued will also be digitised and uploaded to the Shropshire Archives website. A series of exhibitions is also planned. The full report can be found here, and volunteering details here.
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If any BPH readers are interested in volunteering, you can come along to this free even there, where further details will also be provided.