Exploring the Fay Godwin archive at the British Library

The RPS Historical Group continues its series of online talks about collections and archives of photography in the United Kingdom. The speaker is introduced by Gilly Read FRPS, chair of the RPS Historical Group.
The photographer Fay Godwin HonFRPS (1931-2005) started her professional career as a portrait photographer and in the 1970s and 1980s photographed a wide range of literary figures. During this period her poetic black-and-white interpretations of British scenery also established her reputation as one of Britain’s most accomplished landscape photographers. Her archive was allocated to The British Library in lieu of inheritance tax in 2007. The collection comprises the photographer’s complete studio collection, including exhibition and work prints, contact sheets, negatives and transparencies and correspondence with a number of sitters (including the poets Ted Hughes and Philip Larkin). Bekah O’Neill will discuss the work of Fay Godwin, her archive, and the steps involved in rehousing, cataloguing and storage to make the collection accessible for viewing. Fay was award an Honorary Fellowship of the RPS in 1989.
Bekah O’Neill is a UAL graduate and has been a Preservation Assistant at the British Library working on the Godwin collection for the past year and a half. She has previously worked at the Science Museum on a major decant project and prior to that worked for many years in programme information metadata for broadcasters including the BBC as well as Discovery and Warner Bros.