Samuel Hansford took many photographs of Charmouth and surrounding areas in the early 20th century. He was an accomplished local Edwardian photographer, producing over 200 postcards of Charmouth and the surrounding areas. These provide a unique record of the area and times. The descendants of the Hansford family donated the original, Samuel Hansford, glass plates of these photographs for digitalising and archiving.
Thanks to Heather Salmon we have been able to copy, and then restore, the original plates of many of these photos and conserve them for the future. Heather is an expert in conservation of museum material and digital processes.
At the members meeting on April 18th, 2023, Heather explained how she “rescued” and properly looks after donated material. She also aimed to explain the difference between a family collection of e.g. photos, and an archive. In the case of the latter, we cannot presume what a future researcher might be looking for in an item or image. In the case of the Hansford images, Heather produced a “cleaned up” version which will be used most often, but also kept the unchanged scan in case the cleaning up hid some detail of importance to a future researcher. Only in the most unusual circumstances will the original negatives need to be taken out of their acid-free envelopes and exposed to light etc. The aim being to preserve them for as long as possible.
If you are interested in getting a high resolution copy of any of the photos below or seeing the originals then please get in touch with us on our contact form.
