Images of Rootes: A Pictorial Essay of a Motoring Empire
A talk by motoring journalist and historian Geoff Carverhill, featuring photographs from the Rootes Photographic Archive, held at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry.
The photographic collection charts how the two Rootes brothers, Billy and Reggie, from humble beginnings as motor dealers in Kent, became by the mid-twenties, the largest and most important car and truck distributors in Britain.
The talk, illustrated by photographs from the Rootes Photographic Archive, will demonstrate the Rootes brothers' rapid rise to the status of Britain's third largest car and truck manufacturers, through to the demise of the Rootes name under Chrysler ownership.
The Rootes Photographic Archive has been preserved by Coventry Transport Museum for the nation, as a valuable historic photographic collection, which will serve as a constant reminder of the challenges faced, and achievements made, by the City of Coventry, as one of the world's foremost centres of automotive engineering over the last century.
In 2014, Culture Coventry were awarded an Arts Council grant to assist in the funding of the digitisation of the Rootes Photographic Archive.
This event will be held at our sister museum the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, where the Transport Museum archive is now held. The Herbert is situated just a few minutes’ walk from Coventry Transport Museum, opposite Coventry Cathedral.
To book your place please contact Damien Kimberley, Local Studies & Research Officer on 024 7623 4289 or on damien.kimberley@culturecoventry.com
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