Collection: Eric Maybank Collection of Dufaycolor Transparencies

Description

The collection contains 46 Dufaycolor colour lantern slides and 300 Dufaycolor colour transparencies. The images were taken by Eric Maybank in the 1930s.

Dufaycolor was an early colour photographic process developed for moving and still image use in the 1930s. This collection presents an early example of the use of this process, and as such is important in documenting this part of photographic history.

Eric Maybank (born Eric Walter Zerfahs in 1907) joined the Post Office Engineering Department in 1928 and became a specialist in telephone cabling. He took the images in this collection during family holidays in the 1930s. The images are primarily scenic views of Scottish, Welsh and English landscape. The few images of towns and villages depict: Eastbourne, East Sussex; Broadway, Gloucestershire; Ilfracombe and Torquay, Devon; Tarbert and Oban, Strathclyde; Fairbourne and Portmeirion, Gwynedd; Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire; Minehead, Somerset; Corfe and Bridport, Dorset; Finchingfield, Essex; and River Thames towards Tower Bridge, London.

A few general views of building exteriors are also included: Chedworth Roman Villa, Gloucestershire; Hampton Court Palace, London; Tintern Abbey, Gwent; Corfe Castle, Dorset; Museum at Kew Gardens, London; and Cobham Hall, Kent.

The collection was donated with a Dufaycolur viewer made of wood and glass complete with its original box.

A handlist of the slides is available.

Archival History

Eric Maybank was born Eric Walter Zerfahs to Walter and Eliza Zerfahs in Kensington, London in 1907. His father changed their surnames to Maybank in 1909. Eric was educated at Ealing County School, joined the Post Office Engineering Department in 1928 and became a specialist in telephone cabling. He retired from the Post Office in 1972 and died on 13 November 2006. The photographs in this collection were taken during family holidays in the 1930s.

The collection was given to the NMR in 2008 by Eric's daughter-in-law, Penny Maybank.

Content

Rights

© Historic England Archive