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More than 200,000 archive photos go online for daily’s project

An island daily has made more than 200,000 photographs available to view online as part of its bid to digitise 1.5m images.

The Jersey Evening Post is in the process of transforming its archives as part of a project started in 2015 at the instigation of the JEP’s then editor, Chris Bright.

The archive was offered to Jersey Heritage on long-term deposit to mark the JEP’s 125th anniversary, so it could be made available online as a celebratory gift to the people of Jersey.

The images, which date from 1921 until April 2003 – when the JEP’s photographic department went fully digital – had been stored in glass plate form and as negative strips at the JEP’s office.

A JEP archive photo showing the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to the Island in July 1921

A JEP archive photo showing the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to the Island in July 1921

Picture editor Peter Mourant and the JEP’s former photographic archivist Jan Hadley prepared the images for collection, and the transfer of the negatives in physical form to the Jersey Archive was completed in the spring of this year.

Eleven members of staff at the Archive, including a dedicated team of six people – along with more than 20 volunteers – have since scanned, repackaged, catalogued and indexed more than 200,000 images from 10,000 photographers’ assignments.

Said Peter: “I am thrilled that the Jersey Archive have given us the opportunity to take our precious negatives out of a dusty cupboard and make them available for the public to enjoy.

“The images will range from the momentous to the mundane, but all help to make up a unique pictorial record of Jersey life. Islanders now have the chance to be reminded of former sporting or academic glory, or perhaps just their poor fashion choices.”

The project is not expected to be completed until 2025 at the earliest.

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