“Magical” find for the Sheffield Photographic Society as antique images restored in the city

In March 2020, the Sheffield Photographic Society was contacted by photographer Roy McAdam of Malvern, Worcestershire, because he had purchased antique equipment including the slides.

The magic lantern is an early image projector that projects images of paintings, prints or photographs through one or more lenses and an artificial light source onto transparent glass plates.

Since many of the slides were referred to as the Sheffield Photographic Society or “TG Hibbert, Sheffield”, Mr. McAdam offered the collection to the Society. The transport had to be carefully planned due to its delicate nature and was delayed until September due to the lockdown.

One of the Sheffield and North Derbyshire landscapes from the collection

Gareth Morgan, the then President of the Society, took on the task of sorting, identifying, cleaning and digitizing the 400 slides with other members. Research revealed that TJ Hibbert was Thomas George Hibbert, a family member who once owned the famous Hibbert’s Art Shop (later Greaves) on Norfolk Street.

Although TG Hibbert was listed as an art dealer, he was also an accomplished photographer and an early member of the Sheffield Photographic Society. The collection consists of flower shots, scenic shots of landscape and beauty spots, mainly around Sheffield and North Derbyshire, slides taken by his son William, also a photographer, and people. Society sees this find as an important addition to its archives and is considering other ways in which it could be made more widely available.

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