Former Express & Star librarian Hazel Jones with host Professor Carl Chinn

Historic photographs from the Express & Star’s archive were the star of a special day.

They were handled by the public during an event organised as part of the project to digitise the collection.

Local history enthusiasts were able to hear how the plans were developing during a morning event at the University of Wolverhampton on Saturday.

The meeting was the first Friends of the Express & Star Photo Archive meeting, organised by the project team to thank people who had supported the archive to date.

The collection has an estimated one million prints stored, covering events and people featured in the pages of the newspaper during the 20th Century.

Visitors were able to handle a selection of photographs, normally stored at the Express & Star offices in Queen Street.

Frank Corsby from Tricolor, Rev Bill Marsh, Chris Bentley, Chris Selby and Chris Leggett

The session allowed people to see the varying conditions of the photographs and the mix of the information known about each image.

They were also able to vote on which themes of photographs they would like to see preserved and fill out questionnaires on their interests in local history.

The audience also saw the first screening of a video interview with Hazel Jones, who worked as a librarian at the Express & Star during the 1940s.

Hazel Jones, now 89 and living in Wolverhampton, joined the event to see her story presented on the lecture hall big screen.

Professor Carl Chinn hosted the event and gave a presentation on all aspects of the history contained in a handful of images.

Prof Chinn gave his support for the digitisation project, which aims to preserve the images for future generations.

He told the audience: “The power of this archive is not just its relevance to older people who lived through the eras documented in the prints. It makes history accessible to the young”

Chris Leggett, brand and communications manager for the Express & Star’s parent company Midland News Association and chairman of the panel, said: “Thank you to everyone who has supported us.”