Many of the organisations who help care for the New Forest have produced pages which entertain, educate and help us all to understand more about this area of outstanding natural beauty.
Information about the environment, stories and memories are captured here. The site will direct you to other sources which can answer your questions and we hope you will contribute your own knowledge to those who share your interest.
You can search for topics, read articles and view the catalogues of many sources of information held in a large number of locations both in physical and digital format.
Constantly changing, the site welcomes contributions from individuals, groups and organisations and will be undergoing further development over the coming months so please take a look now, contribute and visit again soon.
Digitisation is the process of creating a digital copy of an original object. For the New Forest Knowledge project, we are scanning and photographing our documents and objects, and converting audio and video tapes to digital files. There are many reasons for digitisation, including for preservation, sharing and discovery…
Preservation
By digitising our historical documents, some of which are fragile or light-sensitive, we are helping to preserve them for future generations. In many cases, digital copies will be able to be viewed in place of the original, therefore saving them from damage through excessive handling and use.
Sharing
Once objects are digitised, we can share them with the wider public. Items can be uploaded to our website and social media so that researchers all over the world can make use of them. It is not uncommon for the Library to get research enquiries from the USA! On our website, users will be able to share their finds with friends, family and colleagues and when knowledge is shared it can lead to…
Discovery
When information is shared, new discoveries and connections can be made which help to develop our knowledge of an object and its story. The New Forest Knowledge website will be able to showcase those discoveries we have already made, and allow users to make new discoveries!
Can you help us discover more?
These are a couple of photographs from our collections—but we don’t know who or where they are! Can you help? Do you recognise a place or a familiar face? If you think you can give us any more information about these, or any of our other photographs, please get in touch. You can pop into the library on a Wednesday (10am-4pm) or Friday (10am-12.30pm), call us on 02380 286150, or you can email library@newforestcentre.org.uk.
We’d love to hear from you!
Can you name anyone in this photo? It is thought to be Lyndhurst football club (date unknown).
This photo is believed to be Brockenhurst Archery Club – but where are they?
