Geographers' Gaze Project

I worked on this project with Peter Fox, another former President for over a year and a half on and off, with several meetings at Solly Street and some other work remotely.

Isabel Richardson had done a great deal of preparatory work at Solly Street on the lantern slide collection, which used to number in the tens of thousands. Isabel had been cataloguing the collection.

The plan was to make use of a fund generously donated by former Honorary Treasurer Brian Ellis, to bring these images back out into the open, and provide some ideas for their use in the classroom as well as some context.

I worked with Peter Fox and we co-wrote the accompanying text for each image on the GA website.

The website area is now live, and there is also an article that I have written for the latest GA Magazine.

My original version of the text was a little longer than the final version, which we agreed needed to be a bit tighter to increase the instant accessibility of the resource.

For those who may want a little extra detail on the images, you can download the longer version from Slideshare here - it's over 30 pages long:

A Geographer's Gaze

A couple of months ago, I went up to Solly Street to have another meeting for our Geographers' Gaze project.

We have identified some images from the archive and have created some lesson materials for their use in a number of contexts. They will be appearing on the GA website in 2022, along with other guidance for using images generally and a little context about the significance of lantern slides in the GA's history (and geography).

Thanks to the other members of the team, and to Brian Ellis for funding the project.

Image: Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license

Down in the stacks

After over two years, I was able to head to Solly Street earlier in the week to do some of the research that I would otherwise have been doing throughout the creation of this blog.

In the 'basement' (although there are other lower floors) sit the rolling stacks which contain quite a bit of archive material which has so far been catalogued and placed into archival boxes and filing systems and given reference numbers. 

These include lots of papers and documents, including the W G V Balchin papers, which were used to help create the centenary volume published in 1993. 

I was able to find a number of books and other documents which will be added in to some of the existing posts, and also go towards new posts. Some very exciting finds. Here's a catalogue of Norwegian slides, probably taken from images taken by James Fairgrieve.

Brian Ellis

Updated July 2022

Brian Ellis has been a great supporter of the GA for many years and held a number of important positions on the Governing Body and in other areas including being part of the Governing Body and acting as a Trustee for many years.

He has been the Honorary Treasurer, a very important role (currently carried out by Bob Digby) for many years, and this role in itself is extremely important to the everyday working of the GA.

He has attended a great many GA Conferences, and been supportive of the GA in many different ways as well.

He has been a member of the GA for a remarkable 65 years.

I am currently involved in a project which has financial support from Brian. Details of this important new offering from the GA will be appearing on the GA website shortly and in the GA Magazine, and also on this blog, as it draws in contributions and involvement from other former Presidents as well.

The project is called A Geographers' Gaze.

Image: Brian (left) with John Halocha (former GA President) on the right in ManchesterCopyright: Bryan Ledgard / Geographical Association