The Kennedy Collection

The Kennedy Collection

This Collection comprises of over 900 scanned photographs, that we call the “Kennedy Collection.”

These 35mm slides were handed into the Inverclyde Heritage Hub by the family of the photographer, who had died, Mr Alexander (Sandy) Kennedy, who was an incredible local amateur photographer and it was clear immediately they were an amazing record of the changes happening towards the late 1960s in Inverclyde.

Alexander (Sandy) Kennedy

Sandy was born in 1947 and lived his early years at the lower end of Charles Street, Greenock, now called Hunter Place. He was moved to John Street when the town centre, including Charles Street was being demolished and re-developed. Watching these changes may well have been the reason why he started taking these pictures. Although he was obviously not a skilled photographer, he collected these images as a hobby over a period of about ten years.

He was never married, but he found himself the centre of attraction for his nieces and nephews who thought he was a “great guy”. He would pile them into his old Volkswagen along with a dog, called Paddy, and off they would go on adventures. Most of his photography was then centred on seeing this extended family growing up.

He was an armature winder by trade and proved to be a skilled craftsman. He used these skills when he took up another hobby, joining the back stage crew at the Arts Guild Theatre. He worked mainly on props for the pantomimes and continued with this for some time when the Beacon Arts Centre was opened.

His final residence was in Shore Road Skelmorlie but he did not join the digital age and so his photographic work ceased. He died in July 2018 and it was while his house was being cleared that these photographs were found.

Preparing the slides

These boxes of slides were then gently cleaned with air and isopropyl alcohol and then individually scanned at high resolution and named as they were labelled. Generally location, followed by date, where known

After scanning, each image was digital cleaned in Photoshop, removing dirt spots and other artefacts over a period of several months until they look as they do now.

Inverclyde Council’s Heritage Services comprise the McLean Museum Collections, Inverclyde Archives and the Local History Collections from the Watt Library. Inverclyde Heritage Network is a voluntary organisation set up to support the work of these heritage services in the utilisation of their collections, by making them more accessible and helping to maintain them for future generations.