New photographs asnd cuttings from the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo, once part of Mercie Lack's personal collection and discovered in an attic, have been gifted to the National Trust by her great-nephew, Andrew Lack. The material 'completes' a set of photographic albums gifted to it in 2018.
Barbara Wagstaff and Mercie Lack, both members of the ROyal Photographic Society, photographed the unearthing of the Anglo-Saxon ship burial in Suffolk on the eve of World War Two.
Laura Howarth, archaeology and engagement manager at site, said: "The new items reinforce many of the things we already knew about the dig, as well as highlight the two photographers' different thought processes. If we go through Mercie Lack's collection, her work is very neat and ordered - in fact, it's possible that she used these as part of her portfolio to become inducted into the Royal Photographic Society, although we can't be sure. But with Barbara Wagstaff, many of the photographs show her right in the middle of the action. They have a very different feel."
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