Snapshot into Volunteering

In National Volunteers Week (1-7 June 2007), Elmbridge Museum was delighted to announce the successful and early completion of its Photographic Collection Project by nine dedicated volunteers and with funding for materials from the Museum Development Service.

Volunteers responded in February to a call from Elmbridge Museum to re-house over 3,000 photographs of local interest. The photos were in temporary storage where they were at risk of deterioration and damage. Spending three hours each per week, the volunteers re-housed every photograph in a conservation sleeve purchased with a £2,000 grant from the Museum Development Service for Surrey, East and West Sussex.

The Project was finished well within the five months allowed under the terms of the grant. The volunteers are now taking the Project into a second phase by scanning all the Museum's photographic collection to create digital images. These images are then attached to the Museum's Collections Database. This will increase the ease and speed of access for visitor research and enquiries, re-print ordering, and exhibition and learning uses.

Elmbridge Museum is most grateful to Anne Nash, John Smith, Joyce Greenwood, Tim Simpson, Carl Simmons, Jeanne Butler, Paul Taylor, Ian McCaw and Pat Brady. With more than 15,000 photographs in the Collection, there are plenty of images to keep these volunteers busy for many months!

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