Working in the Records Office

Doing picture research for Fotonow, I was shown around the records office on my first day there and was allowed into the archives themselves which the general public aren't allowed into normally. I was told how to look up items that would be of interest to me and that if I wanted to I could take photos of said items as long as they weren't copyrighted. In the archives there is everything from Royal seals to photographs and emergency committee minutes, I chose to start my research by looking at photos of the Pannier Market when it was first being built in 1959.

After looking through the photo album on my next day I decided to look at another album but this one was from 1859 which I thought was interesting to see how the city has changed over time. One of the images that stood out most was that of the rail bridge from Plymouth to Saltash, as the Tamar Bridge hadn't been built yet. It was also interesting to see how some of the city had hardly changed at all apart from a few new shops or buildings. The next items that I looked at on my next day in the archives were plans of the Pannier Market and some of the original market showing the war damage which ultimately lead to the build of the Pannier Market. These were intriguing as they had several family names written on them which may still be linked to the market or be trading in the market itself.

The following two days after I decided to read the emergency minutes, as there was a lot to get through it took me longer than I thought and most of what I read was irrelevant apart from the names of the committee and the people assigned to re-building the market. Although it was very interesting to see how the city coped with the war, I found parts tedious and hard to get through, but manged to read all of it and am happy that I kept at it. On the next day that I was in the archives I took pictures if the first photo album that I looked at for Fotonow to see and I found out that day that plans of the Pannier Market had been donated which lead me to looking at those the day after. Once I had had good look at the plans I took photos of them the day after, as there was a lot to go through and some of the plans were very large and some were only A4 size. On my second to last day I took pictures of the photo album from 1859 as I wasn't able to take photos when I first looked at it and wanted to focus on taking the images in to see what was relevant and what wasn't. With regards to my final day, I looked at newspaper cuttings that were related to Plymouth and took photos of the ones that were about the market, focusing on the years 1957-1961. Through this I was able to get a large amount of research that will hopefully help Fotonow in their project.

Working with Fotonow

After looking into different places I could find possible work and speaking to lecturers for help, I decided to contact Fotonow. Seeing as I find it hard to contact new people and sometimes struggle with communication around new people I wanted to work on that which lead me to Fotonow. I was interested in their community projects which works with a variety of different people and is a non-profit organisation that focus on visual arts.

Once I had got in contact with them and organised a meeting, we discussed what I was able to do and current projects that they were working on. This lead to me being informed about the project that they are working on which is about the Pannier market and the people who work there. I was given the task of doing picture research for Fotonow which includes looking at photos of when the market was first built and it being built. Plans of the market, possible plans of the original market that was where Drake's Circus is now but was bombed in the Second World War which lead to the building of the Pannier market.

I am currently working in the records office doing picture research for the Pannier market project which I have found very interesting looking at the old documents and photographs of when it was first built and earlier photographs to make a comparison to see that the building itself hasn't changed, but the shops and people have. When I am in the records office again I will be looking at the plans of the market and possible images of the original market if there are any. I will also be reading the emergency minutes to find out more information on the original market and to see if there are any minutes that mention the current Pannier market.