We are pleased to say that we have an excellent photography curator on board for the project looking into the industrial heritage of Oldbury. Pete James is an independent curator, researcher and photographic historian. He was Curator of Photography Collections at the Library of Birmingham for 25 years. He is a double Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (2009, 2014) and was awarded Advanced Senior in Imaging in the Creative Industries by the RPS in 2014. He is a member of ORACLE, the international photo curators’ forum and is currently a founding member of the UK Photography Specialist Subject Network. He has worked with a wide range of photography organisations in the West Midlands including Ten:8, Building Sights, PhotoCall, Arts Council West Midlands and Photopack.
We’re very pleased he will be adding his expertise to the Made in Oldbury project. He will be digging into the archives with the help of Ian Grey and Maureen Waldron from Sandwell Community History and Archives Services and no doubt coming up with some treasures to share with a wider public… (see photograph below).
The photographic evidence that exists in the archives was produced either by in house photographers for these companies or by independent trade photographers working locally. He is keen to talk to anyone who was working in this arena, producing this remarkable documentation of products and processes of local industry. Contact [email protected] for more information.
