February 19, 2015 11.09 am This story is over 115 months old

Lincoln Ruston and Hornsby digital heritage project awarded £98k

Funding boost: A £98k donation from the Heritage Lottery Fund will bring 150 years of Lincolnshire’s industrial heritage back to life.

A £98,100 boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund will bring 150 years of Lincolnshire’s industrial heritage back to life.

Lincolnshire Archives’ Ruston and Hornsby of Lincoln project will catalogue and digitise 150,000 photographic negatives, 150 reels of cine film and the recorded memories of former workers.

The collection will then be available online for a rare insight into the county’s manufacturing heyday and Britain’s industrial revolution.

To celebrate the success of the project, volunteers are gathering at the University of Lincoln for an update on what has been achieved so far.

Professor David Sleight from the University of Lincoln said: “Lincolnshire’s engineering heritage is a key part of the county’s story. This project will help protect that legacy, ensuring that these major achievements are not forgotten by future generations.

“Many of the negatives are on acetate, which has a limited lifespan. This project will transfer the originals into digital format, helping to preserve them. It will also make them available to people all over the world.”

Dr Mike Rogers, collections access team leader at Lincolnshire Archives, added: “The event is an opportunity for the volunteers to learn more about the background of Ruston and Hornsby, how the project came about and see a range of images that have been scanned.”

All data, much of which has never been made public before, will be freely available for all to see on the Lincs to the Past website.

To volunteer for the county council and university-led project, contact Helen Donald on 01522 550581 or [email protected].