"Out Of The Shadows: Into The Light"
13th September 2006

Maidstone Museum holds one of the most important provincial collections in the South-East. Over 660,000 artefacts and specimens jostle for space in its historic galleries and sadly many items go unseen for years. These hidden gems include a huge collection of over 4,000 glass-plate negatives. They were deposited at the Museum in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries by local Kent photographers. Very few of these negatives have been printed so there are no corresponding positive images which would allow us to see what scenes the photographer was recording.

Maidstone Camera Club stepped in to help. A few of their members enthusiastically set about scanning 800 of the negatives and manipulating the resulting digital images. Only after spending hours laboriously removing blemishes, fingerprints, cracks and spots, is the picture restored to its original splendour.

The Camera Club’s members painstakingly printed a selection of 200 of the best as gorgeous black and white images. Scenes of Kent life, people and places are back to their original condition. There are busy Kentish street scenes, hop-pickers at work, Victorian picnickers at the beach, dock workers unloading sailing ships, long demolished buildings and labourers toiling on farms, all captured in amazing detail. These incredible images of our Victorian and Edwardian ancestors were exhibited at the Museum in 2005 in an exhibition called ‘Out of the Shadow; Into the Light’. Over 30,000 visitors saw the show and asked for more.

The initial project was such a success that the Heritage Lottery Fund has provided a grant of £19,000 to enable the Maidstone Camera Club to clean, copy and restore the remainder of the Museum’s valuable plate glass negative collection. This time up to 20 members will be involved and the long term objectives include making the entire collection available to the public both electronically in the Museum and also via disks offered to local schools.

The Museum’s Manager, Simon Lace, said “This project a great example of how, by working together, museums and the local community can bring history to life. The negatives were inaccessible and forgotten; now, thanks to the efforts of a dedicated team of local enthusiasts, we can offer our visitors an amazing glimpse into the lives of their ancestors”. He added “This project is part of our ongoing work to provide greater access to our fantastic collections.”

For further information please contact The Project Manager:

Mike Cockett, either by telephone: 01622 858 422

Or by email: mikecockett@btinternet.com

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