Our stories unearthed: Christchurch Photo Hunt 2016

It's that time of year again when we encourage you to dig out your old family snaps and submit them as part of our annual heritage photo competition, Christchurch Photo Hunt.

St Albans shop. Emily Treleaven and Clara Coles. Clara owned the shop with her husband. They owned 2 shops, 1 in Sydenham and 1 in St. Albans. This may be their Canon Street, St Albans shop, early 1900s. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ. CCL-HW10-S-CW058

Hidden Histories - Our Stories Unearthed

The theme this year is "Hidden Histories - Our Stories Unearthed". But what's a hidden history? And what sorts of images are we looking for?

Broadly speaking, almost any image can convey some aspect of a forgotten history, or a story not widely known. A holiday photo captures a particular moment in that family's whakapapa. A picture of a couple in front of their first home is part of the story of that house and of the people who lived in it.

Hidden History - Coes Ford has been a popular swimming spot since the 1920s. It was named after Jack Coe who owned the land next to the ford. Marshall Family Swimming in the river - Sally on Dad's (Bruce) back. Lynne on the Lilo. Family picnic day, about 1960. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ CCL-HW10-S-Sp-076

A photo doesn't even have to be that old to unearth a story, particularly given that Christchurch's streets and built landscape have changed so much over the last 6 years. As new buildings spring up, it's good to have a visual reminder of what went before.

So fossick in drawers, albums, hard drives and shoeboxes for your relatives, school friends, old cars, modes of transport or technology, domestic scenes, places of work, of worship or play and bring them into any of our libraries (download an entry form) or submit them online.

Physical photos that are submitted will be carefully digitised then returned to the library at which they were donated, for collection by the submitter.

A Hunting Party, somewhere in NZ. Walter Scott Blaikie is standing on far left. Others unknown. 1895 – 1910. Entry in the 2010 Christchurch City Libraries Photo Hunt. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ. CCL-HW10-S-CW-055

You've got the whole month of October, with entries closing at 5pm on the 31st. There are two categories for entries, 'Your People – How we lived' and 'Places - Your landmarks in time'. Prizes are a tablet or Kobo Glo eReader.

Winners will be announced on 25 November and winning photographs will be featured on our website.

Don't have any photos to submit? You can still help unearth our stories by contributing your local knowledge to Kete Christchurch. There are dozens of images there featuring unknown people or places. Perhaps you recognise them? Register with Kete Christchurch and comment on any images or information with what you know.

Past Photo Hunt images

Christchurch Photo Hunt 2016All of the photographs in this post were submitted in past Photo Hunt competitions. They all reflect something of the history of Christchurch and Canterbury. Copies of these images will be available as free postcards at our libraries during October. Pick up a copy of your favourite image or collect the whole set.

We'll also be sharing daily Photo Hunt image posts on this blog for the month of October. Check in every day for a new/old view of our city and our people.

You can also view all the previous Photo Hunt entries on Canterbury Stories.

More Photo Hunt information