Stoke Newington historian uploads his work for world to see
Amir's new website - Credit: Archant
A historian who knows more about Stoke Newington than most has decided to share his archives with, well, the whole world.
Amir Dotan runs the History of Stokey Twitter page and regularly posts his fascinating findings online. Earlier this year he even used Google Maps to mock up incredible collages of how the area’s streets used to look, with old buildings superimposed on the current streetscene.
But he’s never before had all of his information in one place. Until now. He’s uploaded all 4,000 of his clippings, pictures and maps to photo-sharing website Flickr.
He told the Gazette: “Since I first got interested in Stoke Newington’s rich colourful history a few years ago, I have begun collecting every artefact I could find that has something to do with the area’s past such as photos, drawings, documents, old directories and maps.
“I search for items in both online and physical archives, eBay, YouTube, Flickr and Google Images.”
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In 2015 Amir also befriended the late historian Derek Baker, who over the last 40 years produced an analog encyclopaedia dubbed the Holy Grail of Stoke Newington from his basement in Albion Road.
Derek said he had worked in every building in the area during his career as an electrician and before being moved to the local archives at Dalston’s CLR James Library, his work took up a whole wall of his home.
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And Amir also has other people coming forward with stuff produced by their elder relatives. “Sometimes I get very lucky and someone hands me a copy of a personal collection, which is always a rare and exciting find,” he said.
“I have been sharing individual items randomly from my collection as I come across them on Twitter and Facebook, but the entire collection wasn’t easily accessible online in one central place. That’s why I decided to upload it in its entirety to Flickr.
“I hope it’ll allow people who are interested in Stoke Newington’s past easy access to a wealth of fascinating material.”
Check out Amir’s amazing work here.
