From mining disasters to Royal visits and carnival capers – it has all been captured on camera in East Durham over the decades.

And now people around the world are being offered the chance to take a trip down memory lane, thanks to an Internet project.

People Past and Present, an archive of 3,000 photos, has just been added to the District of Easington Council's website.

Every village and town in East Durham is covered by the new catalogue, with the pictures dating from the 1880s to the 1970s.

And, with a host of subjects included – from street scenes to social gatherings – there is something for everyone on the site.

Colin Robson, arts officer for the council, said: "People Past and Present is an amazing piece of the district's heritage.

"By uploading the images on to the authority's site, more people can now access these wonderful photos of bygone years."

The online archive allows people to search the site by area, but plans are in the pipeline to extend the project over time.

"The second phase, which should be complete by the end of the summer, will allow subject and date searches too," said Colin.

"We will also be adding any information that comes in from viewers, to update the captions which accompany the pictures."

The picture archive was originally the brainchild of artist Stuart Brisley, regarded as the "Godfather of British performance art."

When appointed as town artist for Peterlee back in 1976, he was drawn to the idea of developing a catalogue of living memories.

"Rather than producing his own artwork, he considered it more relevant to create a collective interest in art," said Colin.

"Peterlee was still only a new town at the time, having been built in the 1940s and 50s, and he wanted to address this issue.

"His aim was to show that the history and heritage of Peterlee was rooted in the villages around it – hence a picture archive."

Brisley launched his ambitious project, called History Within Living Memory, in early 1976. It proved an immediate success.

For the next two years, six volunteers worked under the direction of John "Pop" Porter, collecting pictures and tape recordings for the "artwork".

"Local people were invited to bring along their photos, to provide a statement of life from World War One," said Colin.

"These were then rephotographed and mounted, to become part of the archive and have not really been seen in public since."

The decision to disband Peterlee Development Corporation in 1978 brought an end to Brisley's three-pronged project.

"Pop Porter and his team finished their work under the auspices of the new Easington District Council, creating the present archive," said Colin.

"But the second and third parts, which involved the publication of a history of the corporation and provided a forum for local people, were never completed."

Stored at the council offices ever since, the archive boasts thousands of rare photographs, slides and recordings.

"It includes scenes featuring the humble origins of the district, from agriculture to the creation of the coal industry," said Colin.

"But it also includes pictures of the people who gave the villages their own unique character, as well as family and street scenes."

Eventually, the council hopes to include soundbite clips of the archive's interviews too, as they have just been digitalised.

But, for the moment, they are concentrating on revamping the search engine, to allow easier access to the thousands of photos.

"The recordings include 40 or 50 tapes about incidents like colliery
disasters, as well as tales of day to day life," said Colin.

"These interviews have been pretty much inaccessible since the 1970s, so I'm sure they'd be of great interest to many people."

* The archive of photos can be viewed on the council's website at www.easington.gov.uk Anyone without Internet access can can visit the council to borrow up to 50 photographs at a time.

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