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Illustrations

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Illustrations
Photographs | Prints | Drawings | Portraits | Aerial photographs

Illustrations can convey information in a way that is impossible in written form but, for that very reason they pose problems in indexing, storage and access. There are large collections of illustrative material in Devon, but it is not always easy to identify the precise image required and it is advisable for researchers to make prior enquiry that there will be material available. The main collections are held by the larger libraries but many extensive collections of local scenes can be found in museums.

There are sometimes negatives available for illustrations and where this is the case it can considerably cut the costs of making copies. In many collections photographic copies or digital scans have to be made through a designated photographer and photography by users may not be permitted. A royalty may also be payable should illustrations from collections be used in publications or broadcasts.

1. PHOTOGRAPHS

A useful book on the use of photographs for historical research is G.A.Oliver's Photographs and local history (1989). Other titles are Recording the past: a photographer's handbook by Eric Houlder (1988) and Dating old photographs by Robert Pols (1992). There has been a considerable growth of books of early photographs since the 1960s and there are few areas of the county which have not been covered. If reference for the purposes of private study is required it may often be most convenient for such volumes to be consulted before the collections in the local studies collections are approached. Such volumes are normally shelved with the histories and guidebooks of the locality in question and loan copies of many titles are available. A national example is the Britain in old photographs series, published by Alan Sutton. Local publishers such as Obelisk in Exeter and A.L.Clamp in Plymouth issue many titles made up largely of old photographs which have frequently been made available by private individuals. These often have the advantage of having been carefully identified by the owners.

The Francis Frith Collection is a nationwide collection built up by a leading commercial photographer over the period 1860-1970. The entire collection for the British Isles has been made available on microfiche and the Devon section, containing some 15,349 illustrations, is available in Westcountry Studies Library and North Devon Athenaeum. A further set has been split between the main local studies collections in Plymouth, Torquay and Exmouth. A place listing is available. The original glass negatives are deposited in Birmingham Central Library and fine quality copies can be purchased. Many Francis Frith photographs are included in general illustrations and postcard collections. They can frequently be identified by the letters FF preceding the negative number. Another early photographer active in Devon was Francis Bedford and some examples of his albums of photographs, some dating from the 1860s, can be found in the main collections.

There have been a number of photographic surveys, often carried out by Manpower Services Commission projects, although one of the earliest, the Exeter Pictorial Record Society, held in Westcountry Studies Library, dates from the period 1900-1914. The items (which include prints and drawings) have been rephotographed and are in WSL. There is no current countywide photographic survey being undertaken. The historic photographs collected by the Beaford Archive have been deposited in the North Devon record Office together with listings and the views of North Devon by the contemporary photographer James Ravilious will be made available there once indexing is complete. The Dartington Rural Archive has performed a similar function for the south of Devon and there are collections of photographs in many museums across the county. The photographic archive of the western Morning News has been deposited in the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, but much work has to be undertaken on conservation of the glass plates and their indexing.

Picture postcards, which originated in the 1890s and are especially popular during the period up to 1914 are collected by some local studies collections but are not always housed separately from the main illustrations collections. The arrangement is usually by place.

Lantern slides have been collected by libraries but, because of their fragility, they will only be produced for serious researchers when no alternative is available.

Further reading:
Miller, S.T. "The value of photographs as historical evidence", Local historian 15:8, Nov 1984, 468-473.
Scott, C.G. Photographers in Devon 1842-1939: a brief directory, Royal Photographic Society, 1994

2. PRINTS

Over 3,500 engravings and lithographs of Devon scenes are listed in J.V.Somers Cocks Devon topographical prints, 1660-1870: a topographical guide (1977) which also has an excellent introduction outlining the history of topographical prints in Devon, as well as a list of sources in which series of prints are to be found. Many images recorded by this source can be consulted on the Etched on Devon's Memory website. Many collections in Devon have used this catalogue as a basis for arranging their own collections of prints and it is always worth while quoting the catalogue numbers of items you wish to see. Copies of the catalogue are available in many libraries. Certain categories of material, such as wood engravings and interiors are for the most part omitted.

3. DRAWINGS

There are collections of drawings in most local studies collections but those of artistic merit are more likely to be found in museums. This is reflected in the standard directory: A guide to British topographical collections by M.Barley (1974). Not all collections house original works of art separately from other illustrations.

4. PORTRAITS

Portraits are usually filed alphabetically by the name of the subject and there are collections of varying sizes in many of the larger local studies collections. Only the most important personages had their portraits painted or engraved but early photographs of many individuals can be found in the form of cabinet photographs on cards with details of the photographer on the verso. Since individual's names are not normally identified, these are frequently to be found in the costume section of the ilustrations collection.

5. AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHSS

Collections are found in most of the larger collections, not always separately filed from the main photograph collections. Beside their value for tracing the development of communities, they are invaluable for showing crop-marks which reveal otherwise hidden prehistoric sites. For this reason one of the main collections in the county is held by the Sites and Monuments Register at County Hall, Exeter. In Westcountry Studies Library there is a computerised database which can seach by national grid reference for sites covered by a selection of the aerial photographs in its collections. Westcountry Studies Library holds countywide coverage of two complete flyovers, by the RAF in 1981 and by Geonics in 1993 but the detail in these vertical views at 1:50,000 and 1:10,000 is not sufficiently detailed for study of individual properties. Partial sets for the relevant areas of the county are held in Barnstaple, Plymouth and Torquay. A guide to collections is given by W.Minchinton in "Air photographs for the Devon historian" in Devon Historian 16 pp25-26. A more recent guide, with notes on their use for teaching is: Devon Education's A Devon approach to geography in the national curriculum: finding and using aerial photographs (1991). A useful collection of aerial views of archaeological sites is Devon's past: an aerial view by Frances Griffiths (1988).
Creator: Devon Library and Information Services
Title: Illustrations
Imprint: : Devon Library Services
Date: 2003
Format: Web page : HTML
Series: Local studies source guide ; S21
Ref. no.: WEB ILLUSTR
Coverage: Devon . Illustrations . Historical sources
Last Updated: 17/02/2005


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