We have received the following note and request from Allyson Lewis at the Essex Records Office.
Essex Record Office holds the Marconi Photographic archive, a vast collection of negatives and prints covering all aspects of the work of the Marconi’s Wireless and Telegraph Company Ltd from the early years of the company to its closure. Â The collection consists of glass plate negatives, acetate negatives and prints amounting to nearly 8 cubic metres, arranged on 94 shelves (ERO ref A11449).
A preliminary review of just one box of prints found pictures of the first medical use of colour television at St John’s Hospital, Chelmsford in July 1958, the use of VHF radios during Sir Donald Campbell’s attempt at the World Water Speed Record on Coniston Water in October 1958 and photographs of Alcock and Brown shortly after they landed in Ireland near a Marconi radio station, which were reproduced to mark the 40th anniversary of their record breaking 1919 flight across the Atlantic.
The collection is a treasure trove but the current indexes are inadequate for accessing it properly. Â An HLF bid is proposed to make the collection available. Â Although a project archivist would be appointed to catalogue the collection, volunteers would be needed to help identify images for which there are no captions and to add information about equipment. Â They would also be asked to clean and repackage the negatives and possibly scan the negatives to make digital images, subject to our obtaining permission from the Marconi Corporation to do this. Â If anyone worked with the photographic archive we would be particularly grateful for their help.
If any members of the Marconi Veterans Association are interested in being part of this project, could they give their names to Ken Earney in the first instance via the comments facility below.  He will liaise with Allyson Lewis at Essex Record Office to develop and submit the HLF bid.
April 2013