Crowdsourcing effort to raise money for photo rights for a book
Project aim
To acquire 18 photographs to illustrate Will Sutton: The Forgotten Trail Breaker of Vancouver Island.
After three years of intensive research and writing I have just completed this biography. In 1933 Will Sutton's sister in law donated a photograph album containing 57 of his photographs to the Royal British Columbia Archive. I need to access 18 photographs from the archive, many from this album, to illustrate the biography. But it costs $50 to get a copy of one photograph and another $50 for the licence fee, so that is $100 per photograph (it is $70 for photographs which have already been digitised). I am a pensioner and only have a state pension - I cannot afford to buy these photographs myself.
Book Synopsis
Curious to know who the role model for Heathcliff might be? Want to know how Sutton Pass, Sutton Boulders, Lost Shoe Creek, Sutton Rock and Sutton Limestones on Vancouver Island, and Sutton Park, Sutton Street, William Street and Williamsburgh in Kincardine, Ontario got their names? Interested in early lumbering on Vancouver Island? Or who procured many of the skulls for Franz Boas? Or that an Emily Carr painting in the Art Gallery of Ontario was wrongly labelled? These questions and more are answered in this fascinating, well researched, biography of Will Sutton, The Forgotten Trail Breaker of Vancouver Island.
Wills story is brought to life with many of his photographs until now hidden in the bowels of British Columbia Archives. We go on a journey from 19th century Dent in Yorkshire to Ontario to meet the first sheriff of Bruce County who was sacked after 25 years of service, to Vancouver Island to learn about the adventures of Will, a Timberman, Geologist, Assayer, Grave Robber, Surveyor, Lecturer, Explorer, Pioneer, Scientist and Promoter of Vancouver Island, whose mineral collection can be found at the Pacific Museum of Earth.
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/book-2
The lady writing the book has been very helpful to me. The history she is exploring overlaps part of my family history and she has sent me parts of her draft that includes my ancestors. I sent her high quality scans of photos from my family records that helped round out some of her information.
She needs some photo rights for pictures in the Royal British Columbia Archive but it is expensive to acquire those rights so she is trying to raise the money to get them.
Having read a chapter of her book, I would very much like to read the entire work. I'll be sending her a contribution but I thought I would post a link to her crowdfunder page in case anyone here is interested in helping her:
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/book-2