This site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.
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This site was set up as a place to put some of the historical sources I've collected and scanned over the years. I'd become frustrated by the increasing bloat of the usual picture sharing sites, which made them slower and more difficult to use. This site has been designed to be simple, high in information density, and very fast. The site doesn't really comply with any standards, have a look at the source code and see for yourself.
It's probably best to think of this site as a virtual card index. As I have to worry about bandwidth usage, some of the scans/documents will be smaller than the originals but hopefully big enough to get an idea of what they are. They will probably have reference numbers on them so you know what site/collection they relate to. It's much easier to ask for "Picture BC10-A56" than "That other picture looking east toward the fire exit in the Science Block".
Contact: surveychicken-backroom [AT] yahoo [DOT] com
Infrequently Asked Questions:
Why did you set this up?
I set this site up because I like history. For a long time I've noticed places around me disappearing, old things being demolished and thrown away with no regard for recording the way things used to be (in my living memory!). I started to notice that from the early 2000's there was a fairly sudden and extreme drop in the amount of the ephemera being preserved. I attribute this to a shift from the analogue to the digital domain. Early digital photos were of very low quality, and digital storage was expensive. This meant that not only did it become very easy to delete vast swathes of material, it was economically advantagious to do so. The rationale can be compared to the way the BBC famously wiped and re-used film in the 1960's (film was expensive). Never before has it been so easy to delete so much from the historical record we create today; Previously, pictures and documents would be put into boxes and stored, the effort needed to destroy them would be high. If you've ever had to shred boxes full of confidential files you'll know just how time-consuming this is! Now, a warehouse full of documents, film and related material can be stored in the size of a small fridge, and can be permanently obliterated in a few seconds. This very high Destructive Density Index (for want of a better term) would, previously, have been attainable only by an arsonist. Now, anyone can delete lifetimes worth of information, and it's probably never been easier in the entire history of document management. It requires neither effort nor consensus, and leaves no trace. Furthermore, the laws that now protect our information (and use thereof) have become responsible for the mandated destruction of it. The digital dark age has begun.
Why is all the stuff free? There must be a hidden cost! You ANARCHIST!
It's free because I wanted to get back to the essence of things being free unless there is a Good Reason why they can't be. Many archives will claim ownership of everything, regardless of whether they can or should. This does the following things:
Whilst a) can sometimes prevent interesting things from being thrown away, it also disuades people from sharing them. This prevents people from learning. Also, by linking the extent of preservation to the perceived financial return of the item/s in question, it means the evidence of our past will be skewed toward what we think will be worth money, rather than a truly objective record of everything. Old things should be preserved out of respect for the past.
Another reason a lot of this material is free is because of the circumstances in which it was obtained. In some instances the pictures were taken incidentally, as part of my line of (unrelated) work for which the client was charged a fee. In other instances I was given permission on the vague understanding that I'm an enthusiast, not a commercial entity. Sometimes I just took advantage of the situation in which I found myself, which, though perhaps not illegal, wasn't officially endorsed either.
Why don't you set up a Community Interest Company or some other boutique outlet?
In my experience, these organisations put more effort into preventing access to information than enabling it. They are very keen to tell you all about the Genuine, Super-Rare Photos/Videos and Archival Material(TM) they have, and how you're not allowed to see it unless you give them lots of money. Together, we can change that. Let's Make History Great Again!
Can I use these sources in my book/CIC (which makes tons of cold, hard cash)?
Probably. As I mentioned above, The conditions on which the photography studies were conducted assumed they were to leave some evidence for the historical record, and for no percuniary interest of any kind. As such, the archive is reliant on the understanding of other organisations and individuals, who otherwise might not be so forthcoming if my actions were profit-seeking. Most of the sources here can be used non-commercially with CC-NC-BY-SA, because of these reasons. If you're doing something commercial I will try to help. Let me know which sources you would like, at:
surveychicken-backroom AT yahoo DOT com
Scans of U.K. Government documents over 50 years old have no restrictions at all. See page 3 of this document from the Intellectual Property Office for more info.
Can you help scan/archive/survey* my old pictures/files/building?* delete as appropriate
Probably. It depends what you want. Scanning pictures and documents takes time, and should be done properly. Many third-party scanning services will gladly relieve you of your original family pictures, and you should consider the reasons why they might want to do that. In the event of the loss/corruption of these scans, you also won't be able to replace them if You Gave Them Away.
Of the third-party photo scanning services available, they can be split into two main types: Scanning, and cosmetic modification (commonly known as repair, touch-up, Ancestor Beauty Enhancement, misrepresenting historical fact, etc). These require two very different skill sets: Archiving records the fact, as it was at the time. Cosmetic modification fabricates that which is not (and possibly has never been). Be warned!
Funding sources
This archive is entirely unfunded, I make no money from it. The website is hosted for free at neocities.org. The only real costs to the archive are the occaisional hardware failure (laptops, Wi-Fi adapters, etc), and miscellaneous archival supplies such as preservation materials. Data is also a cost, as the files have to be uploaded to either Neocities or a third party host (for multimedia files). If you value this site and if you're in a position to, you can help to keep the archive going by donating in a number of ways:
PayPal: Paypal.me/thebackroomarchive
Bitcoin: I can, in theory, accept Bitcoin donations to the following address: 12Qo1YadLNM5oDGyNkntxEuP4DKUC1H4Xr
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