New photographic resource gives the public a glimpse into Nelson Tasman’s more recent past
Geoffrey C Wood Collection Online
The Nelson Provincial Museum is thrilled to announce the completion of the Geoffrey C Wood Proof Book Project, thanks to the generous funding of The Nelson Civic Trust.
Geoffrey C Wood was a prominent 20th Century Nelson Photographer, well known for his portrait studio and his time as a photojournalist for the Nelson Evening Mail.
The Geoffrey C Wood Collection is Nelson Provincial Museum’s largest, comprising of an estimated 650,000 negatives. It is a historically important collection, including studio, wedding and outdoor, advertising and business photographs. Previously, there was no straightforward way for the public to search or view these negatives. This project has involved digitising Geoffrey C Wood’s proof books, covering his photographs for the Nelson Evening Mail, taken during the period of 1960 to 1978. This resource can be used as a visual finding aid, giving the public greater access to this remarkable collection and a glimpse into Nelson’s more recent past.
The process of digitising the proof books was no mean feat, and took almost two years of volunteer time, and significant input from our Senior Curator of Photography, Darryl Gallagher.
Over 40,000 proof book records are now available via our Collections Online. Download our browsing guide below.
Negatives vs Proof Books - an explanation
The Nelson Provincial Museum inherited both Geoffrey C Wood’s photographic negatives along with the proof books that Geoffrey C Wood and his family kept of his time at the Nelson Evening Mail. Proof books contain proof sheets, also known as contact sheets, which enable photos to be more easily found amid this vast collection.
These proof sheets are printed positives of the negative strips. They are the same size as the negatives, which are mostly 35mm or 120 film – each image is like a miniature preview. Films and frames are numbered on the proof sheet so that the correct film can be retrieved, and the right frames selected. The films themselves are kept in a temperature and humidity controlled cold store for their ongoing preservation.
This project has involved digitising Geoffrey C Wood’s proof books, which can be used as a visual finding aid.
Ordering Images
Found an image that you like after browsing the Geoffrey C Wood proof books? You’re more than welcome to order a copy of an image via our website.
Please let us know which individual frames you are interested in, and we will retrieve the negative (the films themselves are kept in our cold store) and create a high-resolution digital image to supply you with.
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