Photo Archive News

Francis Frith - The New Site

Clovelly, Post Office, transfer of mail 1936 (Devon)

The Francis Frith Collection contains about 365,000 vintage images, taken by the company photographers between 1860 and 1970, of nearly 7,000 cities, towns and villages across Britain.
Over 6 million words of informative text have now been added to the photographs.

Visit the new library at www.francisfrith.com/library

The photographs have been used to illustrate over 800 local history books, and the general public have been invited to ‘Share Your Memories’ online via the main website of the company. This has allowed members of the public to identify people in many images and tell their stories, so that over 6 million words of informative text have now been added to the photographs.

Much of this text can now be viewed together with the relevant images on the new photo library website of the Collection, thus providing valuable information for picture researchers and editors. For example:

“Outside the Higher Clovelly post office, postman Roy Fisher accepts the sacks of local post from the Bideford van. Beside him stands the post donkey, who was vital to efficient and regular deliveries in this isolated village in North Devon. Clovelly clings to a cliff, and its street is a steep, cobbled flight of steps. Villagers still use donkeys and sleds to carry goods to and from their cottages and the tiny harbour far below.”

(Information from author, Terence Sackett)

Posted by Will Carleton
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