The Vernon MacAndrew photographic archive held at Dartmouth Museum has received £36,246 from the National Archives' Archives Revealed fund. The MacAndrew archive was noted on BPH earlier this year.
In 2025, the museum was donated the Vernon MacAndrew Photographic Archive featuring around 5,000 images from 1900–1940, more than half in early colour. MacAndrew’s photographs record Dartmouth, the River Dart and the emergence of dinghy racing in the harbour, his sailing career and successful international yacht racing, and his shell collecting expeditions to the Red Sea and Philippines. They also present insights into his family and their home in Dartmouth. Archives Revealed funding will enable this nationally significant collection to be catalogued and made searchable by the public.
Jonathan Turner, Vice Chair, Dartmouth Museum, says: “we knew we had been given a beautiful photographic archive, but as we have explored it, its extraordinary breadth has connected us to collections and organisations around the world. We would love to hear from others in Dartmouth, Devon and beyond who can help us explore MacAndrew’s extraordinary life and photographs.”
Archives Revealed has awarded three new Consortium Grants and a remarkable 17 Cataloguing Grants to archives across the UK, many of which include photographs. This amounts to £1,234,260.97 – the most awarded in a single round for both programmes. There are now funded Consortium projects in Northern Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland.
Marie Kastner, later Mrs Marie MacAndrew, in the garden of the Museum of Fine Arts, Valencia, Spain. Taken by Vernon MacAndrew using Autochrome slide before 1907-1912. Image courtesy Dartmouth Museum.
