Search for people from old photos
Volunteer group hope to find lost names
Boxes of old black-and-white photos guarded from the scrap heap by the longestserving journalist in the 135-year history of Horowhenua Chronicle have surfaced - but who are the people in them?
Bob Malcolmson, who ranks as one of New Zealand’s longest-serving daily newspaper columnists, died in 2002 aged 80. He began working for the Horowhenua Chronicle newspaper in Levin in 1946, and even in retirement continued submitting articles each week.
During his time with the newspaper he took home thousands of photographs, all in black and white, which were stored in cardboard boxes, which more recently have been stored in the archive room at Te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-po Levin Library.
But very few photos had names attached. The odd one had a date on the back, but most remain a mystery. Malcolmson was a journalist and took very few photos himself. Most of them were probably taken by former newspaper photographers, Warren Humphrey and more latterly Jim Cummings.
Now, a dedicated group of volunteers has taken on the task of putting names to the faces in each photograph, headed by Levin woman Gloy Deadman.
Each week they meet at the archive room of Te Takeretanga o Kurahau-po
Levin Library and look up past editions of Horowhenua Chronicle to see if each particular photo made it to print and had a caption.
Many didn’t. And those that did often appeared at a different time to the date on the back of the photo. Not to be deterred, the good volunteers march on, scouring through the boxes.
Mrs Deadman, 87, began the work just a few months ago. After opening
the first box at home and placing some photos on the kitchen table, she realised the enormity of the task at hand and was appreciative of all the help.
She was joined by other members of the Horowhenua Family History Group who now meet every Friday and scour through the old photographs. The more learned eyes the better, and every so often someone is able to put a name to a face through recognition.
It happens so often, its uncanny. While Horowhenua Chronicle was there, volunteer Noeline Lyons found a photo that had five generations of her late husband John’s family, and she was able to identify each person by name.
Many of the photographs are of newborn babies, or married couples on their wedding day. Such events were newsworthy at the time and regularly appeared in Horowhenua Chronicle.
Local knowledge helped. Mrs Deadman and her late husband Ian moved to Levin from Dannevirke with their three children in 1966. She was a school teacher and worked for many years at Taitoko Primary School until retirement.
She took up the job of looking at the Bob Malcolmson collection following the recent death of her husband, determined to keep busy. She had experience researching genealogy for more than half a century and was a long serving member of the Horowhenua Historical Society.
“I heard them talking at the library about the boxes of photos and thought, they’ll stay boxes of photos unless we do something, and I had spare time...” she said.
Mrs Deadman is gradually losing her sight, so peruses the pages of newspapers with the aid of a magnifying glass.
The group, who have started meeting every Friday between 10am and noon at the library, are now making their way through the third box of the Malcolmson collection.
Kiri Pepene, library information research and local history team lead, said the volunteers deserved kudos for their efforts.
“They are doing an amazing job and it needs recognition. They know their history,” she said.
“It’s so cool, and rewarding. And I think it’s a chance for those doing the work to get together and reminisce.”
Pepene said the goal was to have as many people as possible in the photographs named. There were boxes of negatives too.
“It can be really important researching their family history,” she said.
In an ideal world each photograph would be digitised, but logistically that could take decades.