Catalogue description THE CLEER ALGER PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTION

The original photographic plates are accompanied by a quantity of modern copies, correspondence, press cuttings, and photocopies of sales particulars.

The subject matter of the collection is extremely varied. About 600 of the plates are topographical centering on the Waveney Valley but covering an area extending from Holt in the north to Stowmarket in the south, and from Thetford in the west to Beccles in the east. Some individual views range much further afield. There is a remarkable number of views of houses and churches, immediately before or after rebuilding, almost certainly taken deliberately to record the changes. The remainder of the plates are individual or group portraits and are not at present (Aug. 1994) included in this catalogue but will be incorporated in future supplements.

The topographical plates have been microfilmed by International Imaging Ltd. and copy negatives and a film positive are available at Ipswich for printing or viewing. Paper printout copies will be available at the Ipswich, Bury St.Edmunds and Lowestoft Branches of Suffolk Record Office and at the Norfolk Local Studies Libraries in Diss, Great Yarmouth, Norwich and Thetford.

Alger, Cleer S, 1819-1883, photographer, of Diss, Norfolk

Piper, Cyril, fl 1978, of Diss, Norfolk

Printout copies may be taken for private study but photographic copies for display or publication may be made only with permission of the Cleer Alger Trust to whom royalties are payable.

Any subsisting copyright remains vested in the Cleer Alger Trust.

Original plates are not normally open to inspection.

Acc. nos. 8824, 8900, 10129, 10143A, and 1011 9

Records deposited September 1990-August 1992

The collection of plates remained largely intact, being rediscovered and rescued by Mr Cyril Piper of Diss in 1978. A charitable trust was subsequently formed to preserve and promote the archive.

• Alger family of Diss, Norfolk
• Suffolk
• Norfolk

A manuscript catalogue by Cyril Piper may be seen on application at Ipswich Branch.

Cleer S. Alger (senior) was born in Diss, Norfolk, in 1819 and became an auctioneer, land surveyor, lithographer and enthusiastic photographer. His photographic skills were influenced by pioneers such as William Fox Talbot and Frederick Scott Archer, but he developed his own techniques, travelling widely in Europe in search of improved materials and processes. It is said that he dismantled his surveying theodolites to use the high quality lenses in his cameras.

Cleer and Ellen Alger had four children, the eldest son taking his father's name. Cleer (senior) died in 1883. Cleer (junior), who had been his father's assistant and featured in a number of the photographs, took over the business in Mere Street, Diss, continuing it successfully for 20 years. In July 1903, Cleer and his son Charles were killed in a motor car accident while on holiday in Warwickshire and the business passed briefly to Cleer's nephew, Frederick, who sold it after only one year.