An exhibition of photographs from the 1950s and 60s is to open in Salford next Saturday, 18th June and organisers are appealing for residents to help identify some of the subjects.
Thanks to painstaking restoration work, a treasure trove of previously unseen images has been uncovered, digitised and preserved for future generations for the Salford and Cheetham Hill In Focus exhibition. Little is known about the people and places in many of the photographs, so it is hoped that the public will be able to help provide more information.
Retracing Salford will be exhibiting selected images from the archive of over 12,000 images taken in Salford and Cheetham Hill at Salford Museum and Art Gallery for the next five months and a new website will showcase many more.
The images include shops, industries, furniture, schools, the annual Whit Walk processions, portraits and styles of the period, as week as images of migrant ancestors, brought by families who came to Cheetham Hill in the late 19th Century and in the 1950s and 60s from places such as Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa.
The Retracing Salford project was founded by local historian and artist Lawrence Cassidy. He said: “There are many fascinating images in the collection of glass plate and film negatives and the team had just a few handwritten notes on the boxes to give us clues to the locations and the people in them. We have been able to map some of the shops and businesses featured but we would love to know more about them.”
One of the iconic images that they are particularly appealing for help with features children crowding round an ice cream in a terraced street. “We believe it was taken in the early 60s and while it is very evocative of the time, it is also an instantly recognisable sight that you could see on many streets today,” explained Lawrence.
“There are also lots of pictures of Salford schools that were built in the 1950s. It would be wonderful if we could trace some of the people in the photographs and find out more from their memories.”
Many of the shops, industries and schools have long since disappeared so the archive is also an important record of a bygone era. “By recording many of the landmarks and occasions in the area, the collection is a kind of accidental piece of social history,” added Lawrence. “I am sure that anyone who grew up in the area will find many images that they recognise and that will bring back all kinds of memories.”
Retracing Salford received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to clean, restore and digitise the archive and after the exhibition it will be stored at the Greater Manchester County Records Office. The digitised images are also available to search and view at the project’s interactive website www.salfordandcheethaminfocus.co.uk
Anyone who can help identify people in the ice cream van photograph, or provide information on any of the images in the archive should get in touch with the team via the website.
Lawrence said: “Categorising and cataloguing the photographs has been a major part of the project. We have tried to make sense of the images so that people will have the best chance of accessing them and their records.
“We are now collecting information for people to add to the records so future generations can learn about life in the 1950s and 60s as well as trace their ancestors. If your family were part of the story of this archive, we are interested in hearing from you. Please comment in our visitors book in the museum, or on our website where you can see all the digitised images and are able to comment in our Memory Book section. We will then add any information you can provide to the photographic records.”
