Local and Naval Studies Library: cataloguing and scanning of images

The Plymouth and West Devon Record Office is proud to announce the conclusion of a three year project to catalogue and make available digitally around 11,000 images of Plymouth. The images come from Plymouth Central Library’s Local Studies collection and thanks to the work of staff and volunteers from the record office, these are now fully keyword-searchable and available on our online archive catalogue page.

These images tell the story of Plymouth throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, a time when Plymouth has undergone considerable change and development. The earliest image is a black and white print of the Royal Hotel, Theatre and Athenaeum, (PCC/76/5/11190) shows an almost unidentifiable scene of the area around the current Theatre Royal and Reel Cinema.

The collection also marks the destructive force of the Second World War with various images of war damage on a frightening scale. One black and white photograph of George Street (PCC/76/5/313) shows extensive damage to the Prudential building, the Western Morning News building, Frankfort Street and King Street Wesleyan Methodist Chapel.

Access to the images and their descriptions is completely free through our online archive catalogue page and copies of the images can be purchased for a small fee. Contact us at pwdro@plymouth.gov.uk for more information or to book an appointment to view the original photographs and prints.