20,000 - Not out!: The Work of the KAS Visual Records Team
Family in the Kent Hopfields from the Edwardian era
The Visual Records group meets on Wednesday mornings in the KAS Library in Maidstone Museum and works on indexing the Society’s collection of images. More than 20,000 images have been indexed so far and new ones are being added all the time. Many of these are part of the historic collection of images from the early 18th century to today, but new donations also add to the stock of images. Mike Perring has been part of the Visual Records team since the early 1990s when he was recruited by the then Hon. Librarian, Peter Draper, to work on indexing the collection of plates. “I came in to find images of Thurnham and started working with June Dyer on indexing plates. Later we moved on to indexing all images held by the Society,” recalls Mike. “The idea is, of course, to make people aware of what a good collection of prints, engravings, paintings and slides etc. we have.”
Initially, the images were manually listed on index cards by volunteers, but soon the records were moved onto the computer and the Visual Records Catalogue can now be searched on the Society’s webpage. The remit of the team also rapidly grew from plates to the entire collection of images and maps. “We have a large collection of images of churches; the collection of VJ. Torr is very good as it records changes in the same churches over the years. Some of these churches now no longer exist; they were bombed during the war. Some of his photographs show bomb damage around Canterbury Cathedral” says Mike.
The group is now embarking on a project to digitise images, especially watercolour paintings and old glass plates, in order to make them more accessible. Many prints have been photographed and a programme of scanning glass plates and old photos has just commenced, initially focusing on photographs of old Maidstone and plates from Cobham. The plates are particularly rewarding as the images come up beautifully sharp on the computer. In due course it is hoped to share some of these images with members in the Newsletter and online.
If you wish to consult the KAS Visual Records, or just want to come along to see what is going on, then come to the KAS Library in Maidstone Museum on a Wednesday morning between 10.30 a.m. and midday and meet the group. Please remember your KAS membership card and sign in at the front desk in the Museum. Currently there are seven people working on the Visual Records in the Library on a regular basis, too many to mention by name, but all working on preserving and recording these wonderful images for the use of KAS members in their researches.
The Leather Bottle Cobham