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In late 1947 or early 1948, W. S. Thomson published his third booklet in the Let’s See series: Let’s See the Orkney Isles. George Mackay Brown wrote the text, which includes more than fifty black-and-white photographs. The photographs can be found on the W. S. Thomson map.
The first two weeks of February, I spent most of my time in Glasgow and Edinburgh for research on W.S. Thomson and mountaineering in the 1930s. I made a deep dive into the archives of The Mitchel Library (Glasgow) and the National Records of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland (Edinburgh). Read about my search and findings in my Travelogue.
The research will result in a first article for the Journal of the Scottish Mountaineering Club. The two-week journey was made possible by a small grant received from the Scottish Mountaineering Trust. Some more research will follow at the end of the year.
In December and January, I picked up some black-and-white mountaineering photographs after I scanned a collection of transparencies from the W.S. Thomson family archive. All will be scanned, and some will be published as illustrations for the SMC Journal article. Writing that article is my next goal.
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Lochaber, Scotland
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Series
A series on the more than 70 villages in the Melton Mowbray Borough. An eclectic selection of old pictures and postcards from the end of the 19th century to the 1970s, highlighting each village with one or more views and their stories: street views, buildings, remarkable trees, monuments, local pubs, churches and chapels…
Old photograph: © W.S. Thomson
The Scottish photographer W.S. Thomson MBE (1906-1967) roamed his country from the 1940s to the 1960s. He left hundreds of photographs (see map) published in books and as postcards, which make a unique series of landscape photos in a timeframe of developing Scottish tourism.
Old postcard: Valentine Series
Brings the history of its places from the 19th century up to the post-World War II period back to life. Additional to the joint Woodland Trust and National Trust project to reconnect Grantham to its historic landscape, highlighting Londonthorpe Woods, Belton Park, Bellmount Tower and Alma Park Wood.
Highlighting the past of the Grantham Canal and showing the past of the bridges, locks, wharves, winding holes, towpaths and buildings along the canal.
Earlier series
When still living on the continent, I completed two series on two villages in the southwest of The Netherlands near the Belgian border with local historian André Bauwens and local photographer Peter Verdurmen.
The project, originally in Dutch, was called Zo was het | Zo is het (As it was | As it is). Each series comprised a book, an outdoor exhibition and online interviews. The website is now part of this Travel in Time website.
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