HARDMANS UNPACKED

Hardmans Unpacked is a project to catalogue conserve and make available to the public some of the most important items in the vast and historically significant collection from the Hardmans’ House.

The project, which lasts two years, has been funded by the Archives Revealed programme, which is supported by The National Archives, the Pilgrim Trust and the Wolfson Foundation, and is delivered in partnership with Liverpool Records Office.

“In total, we have over 140,000 items including photographic prints and negatives, business records and personal material. Of those, about 2,000 are already digitised and are accessible on the Liverpool Records Office’s website ( bit.ly/lpl-fh) as well as our own National Trust Images ( national

trustimages.org.uk),” Michelle reveals. “We’re hoping to make a little over 6,000 more availble. So far, myself and the archivist

have chosen 2,000 items – a combination of portraits, landscapes and cityscapes.” The subjects of some of the photographs are known, and Michelle believes the photos will be a great resource for family historians.

“The material that is currently being digitised will be available around December 2021 via Liverpool Records Office’s online catalogue, National Trust Collections Online ( nationaltrustcollections.org.uk) and National Trust Images.” Because of Covid-19, it's been difficult to involve public volunteers. However, donations would be most welcome and can be made at nationaltrust.org.uk/appeal/hardmanunpacked-appeal. Michelle is also calling for people to get in touch on social media if they have any information about the unknown subjects of the digitised photographs. The project is at bit.ly/facebook-nt-hardmans, twitter.com/nthardmanshouse and instagram.com/nthardmanshouse.