Historic image digitisation at Sutton Hoo

The collection includes original colour prints, an incredible survival from the very earliest days of the use of colour reversal film, and original 35mm Agfa Isopan F negative film. The colour prints, as far as research has shown so far, appear to be the earliest surviving original colour photographs of a major archaeological excavation. The image collection consists of photograph albums, loose black and white images and negatives. The significance of this collection has been reflected in a successful bid for internal funding as part of the National Trust’s Collections Conservation Prioritisation (CCP) programme to both conserve and digitise the images to ensure they survive for future generations.

The digitisation process is just the latest part of the process in caring for our image archive. The Lack and Wagstaff photographs have been carefully catalogued over the past two years by volunteers and staff under expert guidance as part of this CCP project. Any remedial conservation work required, such as repairing small tears, was also undertaken at the time and each album was housed in a bespoke portfolio folder.

Why digitise?

The original photographs are in a very delicate state and we must be very careful to ensure their preservation long in to the future. Colour photographs from this period should be kept in a closely controlled environment to prevent them from deteriorating. A cool stable temperature and a low stable humidity are required to keep them in the best possible condition. 

The albums consist of very fragile thin paper and each time they are handled there is the risk of irreparable damage. By digitising the collection the images can be much more easily accessed without fear of damaging the originals. Ultimately this means the images can then be shared more easily and seen by more people whether that is through displays and exhibitions or publication.

How has it been done?

The design of the original album bindings meant that the album pages could not be fully opened without causing further damage. To resolve this the albums have been unclipped meaning each page can be individually photographed without damaging the original pages or albums.

Each album page has undergone a thorough process of having several high-resolution digital photographs taken using an overhead camera, under studio lighting. Firstly an image was taken of the whole album page including the many detailed annotations of the images made by Lack and Wagstaff. This was then followed by individual high-resolution photographs of the original images. In total over 4000 images were taken during the digitisation process. Documentation recorded alongside this process has ensured that the original order and context of the images in the albums has been retained. Each image captured was then inspected to ensure it is up to the required standard.