The Island History Trust is a local history institution based on the Isle of Dogs in east London, England. The Trust was created by volunteers, who started to collect photographs of local life in 1981. At that time the docks and nearly all the local factories had closed, and the transformation of the Island by Canary Wharf and other developments had not begun. Some locals felt a loss of identity as their established way of life had ended and they wished to record and preserve their local history.
Initially the focus was on collecting photographs. Many were copied and returned to their owners, and notes about them were made and indexed. Later interviews were recorded interviews with elderly Islanders, and a number of people wrote memoirs to add to the collection.
The Trust's premises are currently in The Dockland Settlement, which is one of the Island's oldest community centres. The collection is open to the public on a part-time basis, and may be visited out of normal hours by appointment. The trust also publishes organises exhibitions, runs local history classes and arranges open days when former residents of the Island return to reminisce.
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—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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