East Fife
As a hobby to satisfy his curiosity of camera technology Jim Matthew amassed over 3000 cameras and much related photographic equipment. His work for the Salvage Association enabled him to travel extensively, so the collection comes from many countries, and also accounts for the many flags decorating the walls of the Museum.
The Jim Matthew Camera Collection is a display of over 3500 cameras back to the late 1800’s, starting with bellows type cameras and including examples used for marketing purposes, disposable cameras, stereoscopic cameras, projectors and early cine cameras, all under one roof. It also includes the largest collection of Brownies and Box Brownies in the UK if not the world !
Jim collected all sorts of cameras, many dating between 1890-1945, and ranges from magic lanterns to spy cameras plus a lot of items used in early photography, and includes much peripheral camera ephemera, mostly pre digital.
FAQ’s include why did he collect so many cameras of the same type, the reason is they are often originate from different countries and updated versions of the same model had subtle differences. Jim’s collection was gathered over many years and was offered to St. Monans at his bequest.
Entry is Free but Donations are very welcome to enable us to open to the Public. Latterly we have created a Dark Room and the collection, through donations, has grown considerably.
It is a unique collection of “cameras through the ages”.
Facilities
Gallery
