SPRI Review 2000

Picture Library

Manager: Philippa Smith (to 15 Sept 2000)
Acting Manager: Lucy Martin (from 18 Sept 2000)

A grant of £17,984.60 from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation has enabled us to set up the 'Polar pictures' database available on the internet at www.spri.cam.ac.uk/lib/spripic.htm. Whilst records for recent records were created by Ailsa Macqueen, records for the historic collection were generated from the typescript accessions list going back to 1948. Many entries in this list are exceedingly detailed, with descriptions for each photograph written up by expedition members to accompany original presentation of the collection. All this information is preserved in 'Polar Pictures,' where clicking the appropriate button will obtain the full list, the database entry itself inevitably being rather briefer. This is a major resource now for the first time available to all and we are grateful to the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation for making this possible. The Foundation's grant also enabled us to purchase large quantities of conservation materials, with the aid of which a team of volunteers has assisted Lucy Martin in re-housing most of the historic negatives, together with the glass slides and 35 mm film collections. Another important gift was that of Andrew Mackenzie, who donated a set of high quality lantern slides taken by his father, A. Dunlop Mackenzie, on the Oxford University expedition to Nordaustlandet, 1935-36.

The Picture Library has been much involved in the two major polar exhibitions currently on display in London at the National Maritime Museum (South: the race to the Pole) and Dulwich College (Shackleton: the Antarctic and Endurance). Material has also been provided for exhibits at the Oates Museum, Selbourne, and the Discovery Museum, Dundee. Photographs depicting the expeditions of Sir Ernest Shackleton continue to attract particular interest, as also increasingly those from Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery expedition, the centenary of which is next year.

The Picture Library benefits enormously from the work put in by many volunteers. We are particularly grateful to David Powell, Ailsa Macqueen, Angela Haines, Winifred Ware, Anne Todd, Sally Stonehouse, John Reid, and Joy Houghton. Placements were provided for Charlotte Wilkins and Holly Dawson who did useful work assisting the re-housing of collections and creating files recording annotations in photographic albums.