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• Aerofilms Collection

Launch Date: 2011-01-13

Press release:
One of the earliest and most significant collections of oblique aerial photography of the United Kingdom is to be conserved, digitised and made publicly accessible thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of £1,755,722.

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, along with English Heritage and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, will use the funding to undertake a four-year conservation programme on the oldest and most valuable photographs in the Aerofilms Collection and make these images available freely online.

Acquired for the nation in 2007, the Aerofilms Collection of over 1 million photographs dates from 1919 to 2006 and presents an unparalleled picture of the changing face of Britain in the twentieth century.

The four-year programme starts in 2011 and will involve the general public in sharing memories and information related to the images. Fragile negatives will be conserved and scanned into digital format, and a new website, Britain from Above, will be launched at the end of 2011. By 2014, 95,000 images taken between 1919 and 1953 will be available to view online.

Hilary Malaws, RCAHMW Information Management Branch Head, said “The HLF grant will ensure that this remarkable collection will be accessible to the public and give them an opportunity to share their memories and knowledge with others.”

View some of these fascinating Aerofilms images ...

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