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Do you come from Wellington, or have relatives who lived in the Wellington area between the 1930s and 1980s? We’d love your help to identify people in photographs from our Spencer Digby/Ronald D Woolf Collection.
In 2021, Te Papa received a grant from Lotteries NZ towards the digitisation of the Spencer Digby/Ronald D Woolf Collection – around 250,000 photographic negatives shot in the Wellington studio between the 1930s and 1980s. The project is well underway, and we now have hundreds of images uploaded to Collections Online, with more to come.
In partnership with the Dominion Post / Stuff, we’re sharing some of the recently-digitised photographs from the collection and we’d love your help identifying who’s who.
Or it might even be you!
The eighth image we’d like to identify is Miss P Levin from the 1930s. If you recognise anyone in these photographs, please email: digbywoolf@tepapa.govt.nz
Miss P Levin, 1930s, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049509)
The seventh image we’d like to identify is Miss K. Baffa from the 1930s.
Miss K Baffa, 1930s, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049402)
The sixth image we’d like to identify is Miss J Barken from the 1930s.
Miss J Barken, 1930s, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049399)
The fifth image we’d like to identify is Mr KP Burnett from the 1930s.
Mr KP Burnett, 1930s, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049261)
The fourth image we’d like to identify is Miss M Park, from 1937.
Miss M Park, 1937, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049159)
The third image we’d like to identify is Miss O Gardiner, from 1936–37.
Miss O Gardiner, 1936-1937, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049056)
The second image we’d like to identify is ‘Girl; inscribed ‘Mrs HA Finlay’’ from 1937.
Girl; inscribed ‘Mrs HA Finlay’, 1937, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049038)
The first image is ‘Women and girl; inscribed ‘Mrs H Frood’’ from 1937.
Women and girl; inscribed ‘Mrs H Frood’, 1937, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049032)
Studio portraits taken in a professional photographer’s studio – often making use of backdrops or props – were for formal, posed portraits, as well as informal, candid photographs of people, and sometimes their pets.
From the mid-1920s up until 1960, anyone who was anybody had their photograph taken at Spencer Digby’s Lambton Quay studio, in Wellington.
We have a large collection of studio portrait photography, including many photographs of children, some being propped up by unseen mothers, some playing with toys, and some being entertained by the photographer. Maybe you recognise someone in these images, possibly even yourself!
