This Friday night sees the the BBC's
Landward programme embark on a series of articles about old photographs. Following
a day of filming with our team a couple of weeks ago, the Johnston Collection will be the key feature of next Friday's edition (18th May). Set your
reminders now and DON'T MISS IT!
Current image count : 19207
The Johnston Collection represents the work of three generations of Caithness photographers who captured images of
life in and around the area between 1863 and 1975. During that period they produced around a hundred thousand glass
plate negatives. Of these, around fifty thousand survive and are held in trust by the
Wick Society.
The Johnstons captured an era when Wick was the herring capital of Europe. "The silver darlings" as the
herring were fondly known used to attract over a thousand boats which crowded the harbour during August and September
each year, and thousands of migrant workers would swell the town's population. They were photographed preparing the
boats, setting sails, landing catches, and onshore in scenes of intense activity. Also photographed were teams of
workers who gutted, cured, packed, and carted the salted herring for export across the world.
The collection represents a unique record of Wick's development and its importance as a major herring fishing port,
as well as unique scenes from many other areas of industry and general life across Caithness and Sutherland.
The vast majority of images which survive in the Johnston Collection are studio portraits of those living in and around
Caithness and Sutherland during the Johnston period. For this reason, the collection can be an invaluable tool for anybody
with an interest in their family history. If your family lived in the region during the period, simply typing your surname
into the search box is a great way to start.
Details are sparse for many of the photographs in the collection, and for this reason if you recognise people or places
in the photographs or just have a story to tell about one of them, we would be very happy to hear it and add it
to the rest of the information.
The information in this database has been put together by a small group of volunteers over a very short space of time.
It is a work in progress, and we need your help to complete the project! If you see mistakes in the information which is
attached to the photgraphs then please let us know by filling in the form at the bottom of the image page. We need
the public to get it right for future generations!