Reference Library

Resources

Working documents, field guides, and reference materials that inform and support the archive. Each resource is a living document - updated as new data emerges, new editions are published, and new fieldwork is completed.

5 Published
0 Forthcoming
4 Categories

Published Resources

Reference materials currently available. Each resource is cross-referenced against the archive's fieldwork and updated as new information becomes available.

Resource March 2026

Heritage Crafts Red List

The definitive list of endangered heritage crafts in the UK - the making traditions most at risk of disappearing within a generation.

Resource April 2026

England's Calendar of Living Traditions

A month-by-month guide to the annual customs, ceremonies, and calendar traditions that survive because one person keeps showing up.

Resource April 2026

Ancient Meadows of England

A resource mapping the last remaining ancient meadows - the unimproved grasslands that have never been ploughed, fertilised, or reseeded.

Resource April 2026

Understanding Exposure and the Zone System

A plain-language guide to exposure, metering, and the Zone System for both film and digital photographers - from the basics of light to placing zones in the field.

Resource April 2026

England’s At-Risk Private Heritage Collections

There is no register of England’s private heritage collections. No inventory of what is held, no assessment of what is at risk, no system for identifying collections before they are dispersed. This resource maps the problem.

Field Tools

Interactive calculators and reference tools built for use in the field. Designed to work on a phone screen while you are standing next to the camera.

Zone Exposure Calculator

Meter up to 4 areas of your scene, choose how each should look, and get the optimal exposure. Use your phone as a live spot meter in the field.

Open calculator →
f/

Understanding Exposure & the Zone System

A complete plain-language guide to exposure, metering, and the Zone System for both film and digital. From first principles to field workflow.

Read the guide →

IR Convert

Convert any photograph to infrared-style black and white. Sky darkening, bloom, halation, and film grain controls. Inspired by Dune: Part Two.

Open tool →

Resize & Convert

Bulk-resize and re-encode photographs to optimized WebP or JPEG. Drop a folder, pick a target width, download the batch as a ZIP with the original filenames preserved. Everything runs in the browser.

Open tool →

Archive Documentation

How the archive itself is structured. The conventions and infrastructure that make the work durable, citable, and navigable.

ID

How the Archive Is Organised

Every entry in the archive carries a permanent citation ID. The format, the type prefixes, the stability rules, and how to cite anything from a single subject to a single photograph.

Read the documentation →
©

Copyright & Licensing

The archive's copyright notice and five-tier licensing framework. Editorial, educational, institutional, commercial, and fine-art use - how to request images, what the terms are, and the standard credit line.

Read the terms →
§

Being Part of the Archive

An information page for confirmed subjects. What a visit looks like, the three photographs you receive, the signed gift print, your dedicated archive page, the limited edition print arrangement, the book, and answers to common questions.

Read what to expect →

How We Use Resources

Working Documents

Every resource here is a working document - not a finished product. They are updated as new editions are published, new data emerges, and new fieldwork is completed. Dates reflect the most recent significant update.

Cross-Referenced

Resources are linked to the archive entries and essays they inform. The Heritage Crafts Red List, for instance, is the primary working document for every Makers entry in the archive.

Open Access

Where we reference external data - the Red List, Natural England surveys, Environment Agency records - we link directly to the source material. The organisations behind these documents are doing essential work and deserve the traffic.

Field-Tested

These are not theoretical summaries. Every resource has been tested against actual fieldwork - used to plan visits, brief conversations, identify subjects, and verify what we were told against what the data says.