Express & Star photos archive: Your chance to tell us what you think

Detailed proposals are being developed to provide free online public access for people to view the unrivalled images of local events, momentous and every day, for the first time.

Now we want you to have your say on which images from the region's past you would like to view, which geographical areas matter most to our readers and how the archive may prove valuable to future users.

• CLICK HERE to take part in our online survey

Express & Star staff will also be asking shoppers their views at stores across the region over the coming weeks on these dates:

• August 1: Tesco, The Mander Centre, Wolverhampton

• August 8: Morrisons, Holyhead Road, Wednesbury

• August 18: Asda, St Lawrence Way, Darlaston

• August 29: Morrisons, Mill Street, Cannock

We also want to know what you think about some of the proposed ways the photos can be presented to communities across the region.

The group working on the project would like to know which topics interest people most so they can prioritise the initial work.

They hope the survey results will show if our readers are most interested in historic photos of local personalities, sport, war, buildings and landmarks or crime and punishment.

The photo archive team want to know if readers would be interested to attend talks on the photos, see education sessions set up for schools, colleges and universities or join guided town walks and heritage trails.

Express & Star editor Keith Harrison said: "Photographers from the Express & Star have been on hand to photograph events and communities across the Black Country for more than a century.

"This collection documents the people who make this region so great and the history they share. Readers can play a vital part in the next stage of the project by giving their views on how the archive can be best used by local communities.

"These pictures tell hundreds of thousands of stories. We want you to tell us how these stories can be best shared with future generations."

The closing date for completed surveys is Friday 21 August.

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

Britain's biggest selling regional newspaper is working with leading local organisations to digitise the images dating back more than a century to make them available to the public for free online.

A not-for-profit partnership, set up by the Express & Star with the University of Wolverhampton and WAVE – the museums, galleries and archives of Wolverhampton was awarded development funding of £59,800 from the Lottery board last year. Community project consultants Tricolor are using part of the funding to draw up plans on how the digitised photographs could be used by as many people as possible.

They have described the Express & Star collection as 'a 100 year time capsule for the region'. Gwendolen Whitaker, consultant and activity planning leader for Tricolor, said: "The views of Express & Star readers really count. Completing the survey will help us shape the project so it reflects what local people really want.

"This is a very important part of convincing the Heritage lottery Fund to support the project and this is the readers' chance to have their say."

If the second bid is successful, volunteers will begin vital archiving work, the collection will be digitised and the photographs made available through a single web portal.