General News
12 May, 2024
History back to the future
Digitising traditional film photography at Horsham Historical Society (HHS) has been given a boost by the arrival of a newly purchased scanner.
Digitising traditional film photography at Horsham Historical Society (HHS) has been given a boost by the arrival of a newly purchased scanner.
To enable this work, the society received $1485 through the Local History Grants Program by the Public Records Office Victoria.
The HHS project to scan negatives and save them as digital files was one of the 42 applications rewarded with a portion of $350,000.
HHS president Rod Jenkinson said earning the grant had "taken a while" as it came around only once every 12 months.
"The scanner allows us to preserve and digitise old negatives and slides for future generations," Mr Jenkinson said.
Once scanned, the material is entered into a database and captioned.
Mr Jenkinson said preserving the district's photographs was important to Horsham's history.
"Unless it gets printed, it'll be forgotten about," Mr Jenkinson said.
HHS used previous grant money to print books and digitise old films and now has rooms filled with old photographs, artefacts, newspapers and other records that is open to the public for two afternoons a week.
The facility is manned on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 1.30pm until 4.30pm at the Mechanics Institute Building, 33 Pynsent Street, Horsham.
Making an appointment to visit is recommended. Call 0421 101 267.