The Carroll Perkins photographic collection
The Carroll Perkins photographic collection comprises 292 hand-coloured glass lantern slides of English gardens, dated from the 1920s to 1943. The photographs were commissioned by the American Mrs Edith Carroll Perkins (1869-1958) from Reginald Malby & Co., who specialised in garden photography. The photographs in the collection were taken by Reginald Malby's wife Eleanor Malby (1886-1956), who took over the running of the business when Reginald died in 1924.
The houses and gardens represented in this collection are diverse. Well-known gardens such as those at Hidcote in the Cotswolds, and Cliveden in Buckinghamshire, sit alongside grand, privately-owned houses and gardens such as Sedgwick Park, as well as much smaller cottage gardens. Some of the slides are a record of houses and gardens that no longer survive, such as the house and rock garden at Kings Walden, Bury, and Seagrey House in Wiltshire, which burnt down in 1949.
The houses and gardens represented in this collection are diverse. Well-known gardens such as those at Hidcote in the Cotswolds, and Cliveden in Buckinghamshire, sit alongside grand, privately-owned houses and gardens such as Sedgwick Park, as well as much smaller cottage gardens. Some of the slides are a record of houses and gardens that no longer survive, such as the house and rock garden at Kings Walden, Bury, and Seagrey House in Wiltshire, which burnt down in 1949.