Two Local Studies
Projects
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Developing Research Skills
using old photos
Making best use of Library Services
The "Time Machine Rooms, the Local Studies Rooms in the County Libraries will always have good collections of old local photos. In fact you can now find many good examples on line. Have a look at the links pages for suggested sites. Old photos are very interesting especially if you take matching photos of the same places now, as comparison. I have frequently commented how quickly one tends to forget what used to be in the streets of a local town once it is re-developed. I remember sitting with my mother shortly before she died, visualising the shops on our own high street in order as they were more than forty years ago. It was an interesting exercise.
It is fascinating to examine the most significant differences between the photos.
However, the most important thing is then to go out and explore the streets. Remember to look up. That is often where you will see the similarities between the old and new. After a while it can feel as if you are seeing two views at once, the old and the new superimposed on one another as, I suppose, they are.
Here I have used town examples but it the process apllies just as well in the countryside.
Below are a few examples.
The girls said that talking about the pictures helped them to notice all kinds of details
around that town that they hadn't thought about before.
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