2 PROPOSALS FOR A PHOTOGRAPHIC AND
from Stratford, and not five minutes' walk of the Technical
Institute there are relics of the once rural hamlet of Stratford
that will probably vanish before another ten years are out.
Opposite the Institute is a gateway which is one of the best
examples of wrought iron work in the London district. Others
like it have disappeared.
Essex is peculiarly rich in such objects of interest, and it
behoves a body like the Field Club to see that everything is
done to secure records before these things vanish completely.
Fortunately, in Photography, we have a ready and rapid
method of securing such records, that was not available to our
ancestors, and by combined action much can be done.
The oldest Photographic Survey in this country is not yet
twenty years old. To Warwickshire and to the photographers
of its chief city, Birmingham, belong the honour of beginning
this work. The prints are stored in safe keeping in the Birming-
ham Free Libraries, under the care of the City Council. Since
Warwickshire started, several other surveys have been arranged
for, including a very successful one in the neighbouring Home
County of Surrey; in our own district the enthusiastic photo-
graphers at Woodford have, I believe, begun work on their own
account.
In all cases the method of work is to enlist as many helpers
as possible. Negatives are taken; then prints by some
permanent process are made and sent to a central body, and
by that central body catalogued and stored in such a manner as
to be readily available for examination.
What body is more fitted to take up this matter than the
Essex Field Club, with its members scattered all over the whole
County ?
The cost of making such a collection will be mainly the
expense of cataloguing and storage. Storage accommodation
can be found at the Passmore Edwards Museum, West Ham,
the Club's head-quarters, and I think there will be little
difficulty in inducing the Museum Committee of the West Ham
County Borough Council to defray out of the funds already set
apart for the upkeep of the Museum, the comparatively small
expense of cataloguing, mounting, storing, and exhibiting the
prints.
The scheme of work that seems most likely to give the best