The Ipswich Society has delved into its photograph archive to give a fascinating insight into life in Ipswich over the last 150 years, and is now encouraging the public to take a look at its recently compiled digital archive for the first time.

The pictures had been stored as slides and index cards, before the bank of over 6,000 images were collated into a digital archive over a number of years.

Tony Marsden, vice chairman and curator of Ipswich Society’s archive, said: “The slides on index cards were not easily accessible, so what we have done is digitised the 6,000 pictures so they are now available as jpegs.

“All the credit must go to Tony Hill, Ruth Serjeant and Chris Wiltshire who started the project because it was an arduous task.”

In a talk this evening, Mr Marsden will make members aware of the archive’s new digital home, which is available on the society’s Flickr page, and encouraged them to look at how the landscape of the town has changed over the last 150 years.

The images have been collated from various sources, including donated photographs, Ipswich Borough Council surveyors department pictures, and those taken by members of the society itself.

Mr Marsden added: “It is an important resource and there is a great deal of interest. There is an awful lot of ‘liking’ on the Flickr page, and this is backed up by the number of people who write the comments.”

The full online archive is available to view at flickr.com/photos/ipsoc.

The event this evening is the first in the Ipswich Society’s series of illustrated talks, and takes place at 7.30pm at the Museum Street Methodist Church.

Entry is free to everyone.