Collection: Edward G Tasker collection of photography of church art

Description

The collection contains about 2700 negatives and 1850 prints taken by Edward George Tasker ARPS ([1910-1989). The images are black and white. They depict primarily medieval art and architecture of church and cathedral interiors in England including carvings, paintings and stained glass.

The collection contains: lists of the collection and of churches that Tasker visited, 35mm colour slides, 55mmx55mm black and white negatives, 110mmx130mm mounted prints, 225mmx370mm mounted prints, and 110mmx130mm that are mounted onto paste-up pages prepared by Tasker for the purpose of publication.

A handlist of the collection is available.

Archival History

Edward George 'Ted' Tasker ARPS was born in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire in 1910. He moved to Barnsley, South Yorkshire in 1930 and worked as a dispenser at a chemist shop and was involved in developing the photographic side of the business. He served as an army radiographer for the Royal Army Medical Corps during the Second World War and worked on the development of the forerunner to the Mass X-Ray Service. After the war he opened his own photographic shop in Barnsley where he worked until his retirement in 1971. He was an Associate of the Royal Society of Photographers. He compiled a series of books depicting his home town entitled 'Barnsley Streets' which was completed in 1974. His definitive guide to ecclesiastical art was edited by Dr John Graham Beaumont and published by Batsford in London in 1993 under the title of 'Encyclopedia of Medieval Church Art.' He served as a magistrate from 1966 to 1980 and received an MBE in 1979 for services to his community.

The collection was given to the NMR in 2008 by the Ted Tasker Photographic Trust. The collection excludes all images depicting Barnsley, South Yorkshire which remain in that town under the care of the Trust.

The collection can be searched by using indexes compiled by Edward Tasker which are stored with the collection. Of particular note is a black notebook which lists all of the negatives numerically. During the process of preparing the paste-up pages and the publication of 'Encyclopedia of Medieval Church Art', many of the negatives and prints were removed from their sequences and arranged into separate sequences relating to the chapters of the book. The book can therefore be used as an alternative means of accessing the collection.

The NMR also holds over 500 photographs attributed to Edward Tasker depicting Yorkshire in the Red Box Collection which it received in 1949.

Content

Rights

© Historic England Archive