Thousands of images of Tavistock life and people will now be shared with more local residents thanks to funding from West Devon County Committee.
The Thorington Collection, looked after by Tavistock Local History Society, has many thousands of images collected from the mid 1960s to the late 1990s by press photographer Jim Thorington.
The images have recently been catalogued electronically and the society needed projection equipment for local meetings.
The proposal to support the project came from Tavistock County Councillor Roy Connelly, who has agreed to contribute £900 from his locality budget to the project, which relies on donations and fundraising to cover its running costs.
He said: 'This is a wonderful collection of photos and one that deserves preserving. I'm delighted that I have been able to help the society buy the equipment so more people have the chance to see the photos.'
Kevin Dickens, of the history society, said: 'We're very pleased that we have been able to purchase our own projection equipment.
'It will be incredibly useful as we are keenly aware there is a great wealth of information from local people who can tell us more about images. Having the facility to display them to as many people as possible will be invaluable.'
The society will be organising meetings across the area with local groups to introduce them to the collection.
The eight county committees have budgets from which councillors can allocate grants to local community groups or projects which make a difference to communities.
Jim Thorington was a freelance photographer for the local Tavistock press for more than 30 years. He built up an enormous personal collection of photographs of many aspects of life in the town and the surrounding districts. Jim died in 2002.