Last year Sutton Archives was awarded £96,000 by the HLF to rehouse, digitise, catalogue and research the glass plate collection of the Edwardian photographer David Knights-Whittome (shops in Sutton and Epsom). Since then we have recruited a part-time Project Officer who is managing the 23+ volunteers who are doing most of the work - cleaning plates, rehousing them in four-flap folders, digitising the plates and original envelopes, cataloguing the plates and researching the individuals photographed.
We have digitised over 1200 1/4 plates so far (there are about 10,000 plates in 5 different sizes) and created both a Blog and Flickr account enabling us to share the project with others. As David was active in the area between 1904-1918 the collection includes many WW1 soldiers and nurses - there are nearly 300 on our Flickr site.
The Past on Glass Blog is contributed to by both staff and volunteers - telling the story of individuals we've researched, what we're discovering about David's technique and the ups and downs of such a project.
You can follow the Blog here - include your email address to receive updates - https://pastonglass.wordpress.com/
Our Flickr account can be viewed here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pastonglass/sets/
Enquiries about the project can be made to Abby Matthews, Project Officer, The Past on Glass abby.matthews@sutton.gov.uk
