Salisbury Journal archives on display at Salisbury Museum

The museum has digitised more than 200,000 of the paper’s historic pictures which helped it chart the life and times of the city and it was left to volunteer Ken Smith to choose some for the exhibition, which runs until October.

It first acquired the archives in 2015.

“It was a tough task,” Ken said. “But I was very flattered and intrigued when I was asked to go through all these images and I spent most of January going through them.”

He went through almost 10,000 photographs before coming up with a long list of around 450.

These were whittled down to 244 that have gone on display by museum director Adrian Green. They show how the city has changed since the Journal first began using pictures regularly in the early 1950s.

“You see the changes in the fabric of the city through the pictures, said Mr Smith, who has volunteered at the museum for 12 years.

“There’s the fashion and you start to see more diversity as you go into sixties and seventies. You begin seeing non-white faces, people in wheelchairs and more women working – the first women bus driver, taxi driver, test pilot at Boscombe Down.

“These things are important and it says a hell of a lot about not just Salisbury but society.”

Adrian Green (Image: Newsquest)

'Incredible archive'

Adrian Green, director of the museum, said: "When we acquired the archives back in 2015, we knew we weren't going to do anything with it quickly, and it was a massive project, but we were thinking we had to an exhibition with the pictures, it's an incredible archive". 

The exhibition is divided into decades and chart the city’s growth, such as the building of the ring road with photographs showing a medieval building being demolished to make way for the Milford Street Bridge and the underpass roundabout being built at St Paul’s.

There are the pictures of fetes, festivals and street parties that are the bread and butter of any local newspaper and more dramatic fare depicting fires at Stobeys fish and chip shop and the White Hart Hotel, as well as an air crash new Hudson’s Field.

The changing face of fashion is depicted on the city’s streets and in fashion shows at Blooms and Style and Gerrish department stores with elegant gowns and long white gloves making way for miniskirts, hot pants and bell bottoms.

Adrian said: "We have a new Salisbury History gallery coming, and one of the things I think we fall short on is telling the more recent history of the city, and that will be the focus of the new gallery. 

"We want to tell more recent stories about the city, and this gallery does that."

The exhibition is on display while the museum undergoes a £5million transformation. 

Titled "Past Forward: Salisbury Museum for Future Generations", the project will see the Grade I listed building "restored, renewed and repurposed", and will focus on the future sustainability of the museum.

The budget for the Past Forward project was put together for the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) in May 2021.

Since then the museum says the cost of undertaking the building project have gone up "significantly" due to inflation.

This meant that in the autumn of 2022 it had to go back to the NLHF to ask for more funds to cover what had become a significant funding shortfall.

This was calculated to be £572,500 which was approved by the NLHF board in November – meaning the overall cost of the project is now just under £5 million.

It is hoped the new museum will open in Spring 2024.

Salisbury on Camera: 50 years of the Salisbury Journal Archive is at the museum until  October 29. Normal museum admission charges apply.