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Franklin Photo News

4420 pages of local social history pure gold




In today’s world, memories and events are recorded and shared with others in an instant, immortalised in a digital form of forever on any number of social media platforms


During the late 1960’s to early 1970’s the people of Franklin had a different type of social media in the form of the Franklin Photo News. Sixty-four pages every month or thereabouts of images capturing the glitz and glamour, award ceremonies, teen dances, weddings, motoring events and fashion shows from Franklin and Papakura. The Franklin Photo News was produced by Thorpe Studios in Pukekohe and published by Logan Publishing in Gisborne and sold in local bookshops or available for a subscription.

With the mantra “Call us any time, we have the cameras and the people who know how to use them” photographers would attend the many social events throughout the region and capture memories as they happened, meticulously record the names of those who attended and pass the details through to the Gisborne publishing company who would assemble the pages. Photos would be developed, posted onto large pieces of paper, the text typed out using typewriters, cut and pasted to the correct photo before being placed onto screens and printed and distributed to the eager locals keen to catch up on the ‘happenings’ in the area.

The publication ceased operations in 1973 and could well have become a forgotten icon of the past if it wasn’t for the hard work and dedication of Angie Crawford, Debbie McKenzie, Glenn Wilson & Neil Crispe from The Surveying Company Pukekohe who upon discovering some of the magazines in Glenn’s Grandmother’s house earlier this year, set about the arduous process of bringing them into the 21st century. “I was horrified at the thought that all this history would be just lost if copies of the magazines just were thrown out. We all sat about the office looking through them and were amazed at the people we knew in the photos. My partners parents wedding photo was in one magazine and it brought back so many happy memories for them” says Angie.

Armed with a desire to share this time capsule with others and a limited understanding of creating a web site, Angie, with the help of Debbie, set about scanning, cropping and compiling over 4420 pages of local social history pure gold.

“It was time consuming, but we had so much fun, rediscovering many a local in their hey day at the local dinner dance or announcing their engagements, which was a popular thing to do back then.”

The result is http://www.franklinphotonews.nz/ and is a wonderful snapshot of our area in a different era. Captured digitally, it is now able to be shared and enjoyed with an entirely new generation repeatedly by those who feature in it, and others who knew them or are related to them.

elocal is delighted to be able to share this piece of local history and combined with our own technology is delighted to come on board and further enhance all the hard work done by the team. In future editions we will be highlighting selected editions and articles and connecting with the people in them to revisit them today. Our online magazine www.elocal.co.nz is set up to be fully search engine optimised and so as well as providing a valuable social history resource will allow this social history to be used to further assist those on their genealogy journeys.

So what are you waiting for, visit the website and take a trip down memory lane, and if you see anyone you recognise, tell them! And then email us on editorial@elocal.co.nz so we can feature them in future editions.

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