Bury Council has launched its new image bank website giving anyone with a computer access to thousands of historical images to enjoy.
Over 15,000 photographs never before shared with members of the public are available to view on the free website. The not-for-profit project provides free downloadable images but if you want good quality images they can be purchased through the website online shopping basket feature.
The historical photographs of the area are accessible on the website through free text searching and keyword selection.
The service is reliant on the knowledge of local people to ensure images are correctly identified - A great feature of the website is: Can you Help? This gives anyone the opportunity to send comments to the Archives Team to help improve the descriptions of photographs.
Diana Sorrigan said: “We really want people to get involved in helping us label the collection correctly. One of the reasons we upgraded to a new system was that the old system relied on people coming in to the library to look at the images, they could not be printed out in high quality and . By putting it online people who’ve come from Bury but now live in foreign countries can help out. I hope that many people enjoy looking through the photos and having a trip down memory lane”.
The photographs originate from the Council, local organisations and people of the Borough who have donated material to the Libraries and Archives Services over the last 50 years and as more donations arrive new material is being added to the website.
So if you an avid historian, or simply fondly reflecting memories of the past log on to www.buryimagebank.org.uk
