The First Archive We Knew

Cassia Clarke and The London Archives are proud to present a beginner-friendly workshop, The First Archive We Knew , designed to introduce you to the fundamentals of preserving personal photographs. This hands-on experience guides you through a step-by-step process of safeguarding your cherished memories in real time. Whether you’re preserving old family photos or beginning a personal collection, we want this workshop to provide essential skills and knowledge to protect your visual history for generations to come.

To support your ongoing journey into preservation, we have created the Starter Kit, which will be yours to take home. It includes all the materials you will work with in the session to continue the important work you start at The London Archives. Additionally, Cassia Clarke's Preserving the Familial Archive guide will be provided, offering advice and tips to assist you as you progress with your own future projects. Together, these resources ensure that your preservation journey extends far beyond this workshop.

Participants are encouraged to bring in up to 10 photographs (A4 or smaller) from their domestic photographic archives for use in this workshop. For those who wish to participate but don’t have access to printed personal photographs, poloraid photographs will be supplied.

Agenda

• Arrival Welcome (from 12:30)
• Introduction and Tour of TLA
• Photographic handling
• Photographic Documentation
• Social Break
• Packaging and Storage
• Self Archiving
• Collecting and Calm Down
• Workshop End (16:00)

Starter Kit contents

• The London Archives information and library materials
• Further information from Cassia and The London Archives on conservation
• A guide to the skills learned during the workshop
• Temporary paper tweers
• Acid-free card
• Acid-free paper storage box
• Practical and sustainal paper packaging for photographs
• Puchasing guides for further materials

Cassia Clarke is a practising community archivist, independent researcher, facilitator, and curator whose passion for intergenerational dialogue reveals itself in her memory-oriented approach. Photographs often serve as an entry point for Cassia’s work which focuses on acquiring, critiquing, and reconstructing knowledge, then disseminating it. She integrates compassionate conservation, facilitation, and knowledge sharing into her person-centred approach.

Host or Publisher London Metropolitan Archives