8 Apr 2020

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Cantabrians are being asked to identify people and places in tens of thousands of images taken by New Zealand’s longest-running photography studio.

Canterbury Museum staff are working on the special project to digitise and catalogue an extensive photography collection by Christchurch-based Standish and Preece.

However, many photographs lack information details, and the subjects remain nameless.

Museum Curator, Special Projects, Dan Stirland, says that any information from the public will make the collection more useful for future research.

“We would really like people to browse through the images and, hopefully, see some faces they recognise and supply the museum with names and stories via the Collections Online comments box,” he says.

“This information could help people find photos of their relatives and be useful to family and social history researchers.”

Founded in 1885 by Frank Standish and Alfred Preece, the studio closed in 2011 following the Canterbury earthquakes, leaving an extensive photographic legacy.

Museum Curator, Human History, Dr Jill Haley, says the studio collection provides a window into Canterbury life through many decades.

“You can see fashion trends develop, demographics change and even the growth and development of Christchurch itself,” Dr Haley says.

“There are some quirky images in the collection as well, like the portraits of people’s pets. We’d love to know more about any and all of them – even the names of the pets.”

The first batch of about 32,000 photos is accessible via the Collections Online section of the museum website, where people can now add any information.

Standish and Preece photographers captured a multitude of faces and the social history of Christchurch for more than 126 years. Many of the photographs feature individual or family portraits, along with school groups, sports teams, weddings and corporate events. There are a few racy images, which may not make it online, cute photos and the unusual.

The studio first donated photographic negatives (36,000 photos) to the museum in 1992. A further 39,000 photographs were donated in 2017 by the last studio owner, John Hunter.

All 75,000 images will be loaded on to Collections Online in batches every few months.