taranaki Photos to Be conserved

Grant puts photos in conservation frame 22 September 2006
By KRYSTI WETTON Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker has handed over $331,499 to Puke Ariki so it can preserve precious photos.
The minister presented the giant cheque on behalf of the Lottery Grants Board yesterday.
The money will be used to conserve and archive more than 100,000 photos and negatives dating back to the 1920s.
The Joseph Swainson collection will be accessible to the public once archived.
Mr Barker says the grant is a significant amount.
"We don't normally hand out such big chunks."
He said the Lottery Grants Board would have been influenced by Puke Ariki's excellent reputation.
The collection of Taranaki photos is amazing and worth preserving for future generations, he says.
Puke Ariki collection services manager Kelvin Day says the project will take 21 months.
The images will be catalogued and some will be digitalised.
The grant will go towards hiring four fulltime technicians and for materials.
"The money will soon be chewed up."
Mr Swainson sold his studio to Bernard Woods in the mid-1960s.
Mr Woods continued taking photos until the 1990s and his images will be conserved and archived in the second stage of the project, which will require more funding.
The photo collections were rescued from a New Plymouth garden shed last year.
Mr Barker was expected to speak about welfare issues at the New Plymouth RSA, after his visit to Puke Ariki yesterday.