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Studio portrait photography in Aotearoa New Zealand

Do you know these people? Let us know!

Do you come from Wellington, or have relatives who lived in the Wellington area between the 1930s and 1980s? We’d love your help to identify people in photographs from our Spencer Digby/Ronald D Woolf Collection.

In 2021, Te Papa received a grant from Lotteries NZ towards the digitisation of the Spencer Digby/Ronald D Woolf Collection – around 250,000 photographic negatives shot in the Wellington studio between the 1930s and 1980s. The project is well underway, and we now have hundreds of images uploaded to Collections Online, with more to come. 

In partnership with the Dominion Post / Stuff, we’re sharing some of the recently-digitised photographs from the collection and we’d love your help identifying who’s who.

Or it might even be you!

The eighth image we'd like to identify is Miss P Levin from the 1930s. If you recognise anyone in these photographs, please email: digbywoolf@tepapa.govt.nz

A black and white studio photograph of a woman with curled hair and wearing a hat that matches her jacket.

Caption

Miss P Levin, 1930s, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049509)

The seventh image we'd like to identify is Miss K. Baffa from the 1930s. 

A black and white studio portrait photo of a woman looking up to her right

Caption

Miss K Baffa, 1930s, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049402)

The sixth image we'd like to identify is Miss J Barken from the 1930s.

A studio portrait of a woman and a girl sitting next to each other and smiling at the camera

Caption

Miss J Barken, 1930s, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049399)

The fifth image we'd like to identify is Mr KP Burnett from the 1930s.

A black and white studio photo of a man playing an accordion

Caption

Mr KP Burnett, 1930s, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049261)

The fourth image we'd like to identify is Miss M Park, from 1937. 

A black and white photo with very long hair

Caption

Miss M Park, 1937, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049159)

The third image we'd like to identify is Miss O Gardiner, from 1936–37. 

A black and white studio photo of a woman in a queen's costume

Caption

Miss O Gardiner, 1936-1937, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049056)

The second image we'd like to identify is ‘Girl; inscribed ‘Mrs HA Finlay’’ from 1937.

A black and white photo of a young girl with long hair sitting in a photographic studio

Caption

Girl; inscribed ‘Mrs HA Finlay’, 1937, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049038)

The first image is ‘Women and girl; inscribed ‘Mrs H Frood’’ from 1937.

Black and white photo of two women with a girl standing between them on a pedestal. They are in a photographic studio.

Caption

Women and girl; inscribed 'Mrs H Frood', 1937, Wellington, by Spencer Digby Studios. Spencer Digby / Ronald D Woolf Collection. Gift of Ronald Woolf, 1975. Te Papa (B.049032)

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