2 PROPOSALS FOR A PHOTOGRAPHIC AND 



from Stratford, and not five minutes' walk of the Technical 

 Institute there are relics of the once rural hamlet of Stratford 

 that will probably vanish before another ten years are out. 

 Opposite the Institute is a f^ateway which is one of the best 

 examples of wrought iron work in the London district. Others 

 like it have disappeared. 



Essex is peculiarly rich in such objects of interest, and it 

 behoves a body like the Field Club to see tliat everything is 

 done to secure records before these things vanish completely. 



Fortunately, in Photography, we have a ready and rapid 

 method of securing such records, that was not available to our 

 ancestors, and by combined action much can be done. 



The oldest Photographic Survey in this country is not yet 

 twenty years old. To Warwickshire and to the photographers 

 of its chief city, Birmingham, belong the honour of beginning 

 this work. The prints are stored in safe keeping in the Birming- 

 ham Free Libraries, under the care of the City Council. Since 

 Warwickshire started, several other surveys ha\e been arranged 

 for, including a very successful one in the neighbouring Home 

 County of Surrey ; in our own district the enthusiastic photo- 

 graphers at Woodford have, I believe, begun work on their own 

 account. 



In all cases the method of work is to enlist as many helpers 

 as possible. Negatives are taken ; then prints by some 

 permanent process are made and sent to a central body, and 

 by that central body catalogued and stored in such a manner as 

 to be readily available for examination. 



What body is more fitted to take up this matter than the 

 Essex Field Club, with its members scattered all over the whole 

 County ? 



The cost of making such a collection will be mainly the 

 expense of cataloguing and storage. Storage accommodation 

 can be found at the Passmore Edwards Museum, West Ham, 

 the Club's head-quarters, and I think there will be little 

 difficulty in inducing the Museum Committee of the West Ham 

 County Borough Council to defray out of the funds already set 

 apart for the upkeep of the Museum, the comparatively small 

 expense of cataloguing, mounting, storing, and exhibiting the 

 prints. 



The scheme of work that seems most likely to give the best 



