Tavistock: Thorington Archive on Facebook

ITV News reports that the Thorington Archive - a collection of nearly 80,000 photos by the Tavistock press photographer Jim Thorington - is being uploaded to Facebook. Taken in the 1960s to 1990s, the collection was donated to the Tavistock and District Local History Society after Thorington's death. It's now being digitised by Tavistock Museum, which is uploading the photos in aid of help identifying the people and scenes in the images.

Shirley and Jim Thorington - by James Bird Profile photo from Jim Thorington Facebook page Low-resolution image as fair use for promotion of page

The photos are worth exploring whether you're interested in the social history of Tavistock, finding relatives in the pictures, or just browsing a collection by a very skilled photographer with an eye for sympathetic and characterful scenes. The full collection is also open for public viewing at Tavistock Museum, Court Gate, by appointment and during normal Museum opening hours. For further details see:

• Amazing gallery of 80,000 photographs capture West Devon's history on Facebook (ITV News, 5th Feb 2015).
• Turning back the clock (Tavistock Times Gazette article about the project,  29th January 2015).
• The Thorington Archive (Tavistock and District Local History Society page, with a few examples of the photos).
• Jim Thorington (the Facebook page, with many more images, and related discussions).

- RG