As some of you may be aware, Digital Salford is an ongoing project to digitise Salford’s historic photo archive. Funded by an £69,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), volunteers on this 2 year project to digitise and preserve the visual heritage of Salford have just received an award!
From the start, the Digital Salford team has been asking the people of Salford to suggest photographs to be digitised. Engaging with communities online and at events, workshops and talks during 2015, people have been able to have their say, highlighting streets, schools, workplaces and gatherings that are meaningful to them and which they would like to see available to all online.
A dedicated team of over 23 volunteers of all ages has been working on finding these images. Since early 2014, they have given over 1600 hours of their time, scanning over 8,000 photographs. Their enthusiasm and commitment was recognised formally last week at the Greater Manchester Archives and Local Studies Partnership Awards at Ordsall Hall, where the Digital Salford volunteers won the award for Outstanding Contribution by a Team of Volunteers.
Digital Salford volunteer Paul Hassall said, “The response to Digital Salford has been overwhelming, which demonstrates that the people of Salford have fully engaged with it… It is an inspirational project which has captured the imagination of local people and should be an example of how image collections are digitised for the benefit of the community.”
These photographs are now available on Salford’s new website, www.salford.photos, where you can search for images of the city, and add key information. Sara Hilton, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund North West said, “Heritage Lottery Fund is pleased to have supported this great project, not just for digitally preserving this fascinating collection of photographs but because it has sparked an interest in heritage amongst so many people across Salford, and let local people play a real role in managing their heritage.”
The Digital Salford project will continue after its funding ends in January, hosting more and more photographs as they are digitised by volunteers. Learning resource packs have also been developed for teachers to use local history materials to bring history to life in schools. The project website will also act as a hub for images generated by projects and initiatives taking place in communities around Salford and online. There will continue to be opportunities for volunteers to get involved with Digital Salford, and we welcome expressions of interest through the website.
For further details contact Local History Librarian, Duncan McCormick at Salford Local History Library, Salford Museum & Art Gallery, Peel Park, Crescent, Salford M5 4WU or e-mail local.history@scll.co.uk
