Early 20th century.
W.B. (Bill) Barker (1883-1950) helped John Sutcliffe with many aspects of the museum and journeyed with him to view historic optical collections on the continent, such as that of the German Professor Von Pflugk. His portrait by Dugdale is the only significant portrait of a former President hanging in the building. We prefer portraits that relate to the subject matter of optics, not just the great and the good of our own profession.
The distinguished historian Thomas Court (1868-1951) was Sutcliffe's adviser on rare books and was responsible for identifying and sourcing many of the historic library acquisitions in the 1920s. T.H. Court is most famous for his work on the history of the microscope co-written with Reginald Clay in 1932 and for his donations of microscopical items to the Science Museum, South Kensington.
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| 1960s | |
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Mr Wagstaff produced the first listing of the ophthalmic instruments in the collection. His handwritten notes are still useful. |
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| 1970s | |
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Paul Fairbanks researched vast swathes of the subject but left particularly useful notes on silver spectacles and eskimo snow goggles. He sourced many of the phootgraphs we possess of items in other museum's collections. |
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| 1980s-Present | |
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Ronald MacGregor FCOptom, our adviser in Scotland,has been responsible for identifying the significance of some of our most important items, most notably for confirming the authenticity of our Scarlett-type spectacles and for repairing and restoring a number of pieces such as Storer's Syllepsis glasses. He is the author of a pamphlet on Restoring Ophthalmic Antiques. A former adviser to Christies, he also performed the valuation of the collection for insurance purposes in 2000.
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| Frank Barraclough FCOptom has been a constant source of advice and knowledge contributing particular expertise on opera glasses, scissor spectacles and optical fans as well as acting as our field agent for the South Coast and assisting with group visits to the museum. In this picture he is helping to list the ABDO collection on behalf of our fellow professional body at the Godmersham Training College. Frank was honoured by the College with its Life Fellowship in 2002. | |
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Richard Keeler HonFCOptom has been for some time the museum's primary adviser on ophthalmic instruments. He contributed the section on ophthalmoscopes for this website. As Honorary Curator of the collections at the Royal College of Ophthalmologists he also provides a subject link with the medical eye professions. Richard was honoured by the College in 2007. |
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1990s-Present |
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| Frank Norville HonFCOptom has provided a wealth of help and advice concerning optical manufacturing and ophthalmic lenses. For several years from 1999 he stored certain large items on behalf of the museum whilst we rationalised the storage space in our own Craven Street building. He served on the College Heritage Committee from 1998-2003 and was honoured by the College in 2002. | |
| R. Michael Ling FCOptom provided general help with the inventory project and was particulalry helpful over the identification and dating of new acquistions. He has served subsequently as the museum's field agent in East Anglia. | |
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Douglas Thomson an ophthalmologist from the South West gave considerable help with identifying the diseased eye models and correlating the surviving objects with the earlier lists and photographs. |
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| Henri Obstfeld provided help and advice concerning ophthalmic lenses and sunglasses and has occasionally assisted with translation to and from the Dutch language. | |
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Professor R.J. Fletcher FCOptom, DCLP, DOrth has offered general advice, especially concerning colour vision tests and lanterns and, as Britain's first fully fledged Professor of Optometry, has also been a mine of information on the history of optometric education. |
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| Valerie Mellor has offered general help and special aid in listing the antique prints as well as a French and Italian translation service. | |
| Professor Norman Bier DCLP, DOrth provided help in the early days of the inventory project relating to contact lenses. | |
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Philip Freeman FCOptom offered general help with both the object collections and the archives, particularly in the early days of the museum documentation project circa 1998-2003 when he assessed the optical powers of many a pair of antique spectacles. He was also a substantial donor to the collections including the important papers of his brother Harry. |
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| 2000s-Present | |
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Tim Bowden, a contact lens optician and the optometrist Andrew Gasson FCOptom, DCLP have made a massive contribution as special subject advisers to the Contact Lens Collection. It was their idea to expand the museum's exisiting holdings in this area and to solicit additional acquisitions in an attempt to obtain a near comprehensive collection. The endeavour continues!
Lawrence Jenkin has been a wealth of knowledge on the manufacturing and dispensing of spectacles and has done some sterling practical work for us with a drill and a screwdriver.
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We also acknowledge and thank all of our Open House Stewards since 2003. Those not already mentioned include: Debbie Ashton, Kevin Brown, Gerti Custard, Joan Feather, Les Goodwin, Christine Gray, Elisabeth Lowe FCOptom, Stephen Lowry, David McKinley, the late Michael Mellor, Dominic Phillips, Heather Robin, Gordon Turner FCOptom, Pauline Turner.
The Museum is always interested to hear from College members, students or members of the public interested in volunteer opportunites, placements or unpaid work experience |
