Small Town Glass Negatives

A couple of glass negatives, one I wanted, and one was the throw in. I've always assumed that these two images, if not by the same photographer, were at least from the same small town. While glass negatives were manufactured, and processed by local labs, many glass negatives were made by the photographer, and processed by the photographer. This allowed for a huge disparity in the basic quality of negatives. I printed these by putting them in an 8 x 10 enlarger, and had a hell of a time getting usable prints. The emulsion was uneven, and the plates were over exposed. I assume that the group photo is a multi-generational family, and while this is the image I was really interested in, it is interesting to see a small town before paved streets.

Trains

Not all of my old photos are of people. This is another one of the images that, when I was working in a photo lab, I made copy negs and prints from. The original is an old albumen print, very likely from the late 19th century through the early 20th, and probably made from a glass negative. I 'd love to know where the photographer was standing. The image makes me think that this may have been a professionally made, commissioned image. I imagine that the camera was not a small, hand held one, but one mounted on a tripod. It's difficult to take a quick snap and then step out of the way of an oncoming train with one of those.

In Mourning

Cabinet cards were one of the first attempts at standardization in photography. While the size of the actual print might vary, the card mount itself was 4.25 x 6.5 inches and could fit into pre-made albums and frames. This style was popular, in the 19th century, as a mourning card. Stamped on the back, "Wm. L. Cornell. South Amboy, N.J."

Crookston, Minnesota

A small group of family photos from the Crookston, Minnesota area. Stamped on several of the mounts, the photo studio's mark, "BENSON, CROOKSTON, MINN." At fist I thought these might just be random images put together by the dealer, but on closer examination, it became clear that the people in the wedding photo were the same adults in the other images. Except for the picture of the lady with the dog, all photos were mounted. The wedding portrait is a cabinet card, the two of the woman are in the old fashioned, free standing photo folders, and the one with the kids, probably grandchildren, is in a flat mount that was once probably displayed in a frame. Normally, when scanning, I crop off the mounts, but because of the curved top of the younger version of the woman, I've included two scans of that image. Crookston, Minnesota is in the north western part of the state, near the North Dakota border.

Graphic House

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Stamped on the back of these photos, "PHOTO BY GRAPHIC HOUSE 280 MADISON AVENUE NEW YORK, N.Y. TEL. MUarry Hill 6-8826 THIS PICTURE IS SOLD TO YOU FOR ONE TIME REPRODUCTION IN YOUR PUBLICATION ONLY AND MUST NOT BE LOANED, SYNDICATED OR USED FOR ADVERTISING PURPOSE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM US." In addition, on the back of the picture of the woman on the beach, "PLEASE CREDIT IRV. CARSTEN GRAPHIC HOUSE" On the back of the other, 'PLEASE CREDIT DAN SCHLANGER GRAPHIC HOUSE" I thought it would be easy to run down information on Graphic House, but as it turned out, I wasn't able to find anything at all. It's obvious that Graphic House must have been a photo agency, a clearing house for the sale of photographs for advertising and illustration. Magnum, the French based co-op for photo journalists is the most famous photo agency, and, of course, that's how modern day paparazzo sell their work. As far as the two photographers listed. I found a maybe for Dan Schlanger, an obit for a former employee of the social security agency, died in Baltimore, born in Queens, New York, former member of The Iris Society (Flowers or lenses?). Also listed as a photographer and film buff. It's pretty thin, but the name, city, and an interest in photography...well for what it's worth, and it's not much. Irv Carsten is a different story. I found records of him with other photos credited to Graphic House. It seems that Carsten was a fairly successful pin-up photographer. On a web sight dedicated to pin-up/nude model, and actress June Palmer, Carsten is quoted on how easy it was to work with June Palmer.

Green Bay Business College- Color Vacation

Put this one down to my sense of history and belief that it's better to post all of the images in a collection, rather than editing them down to the most interesting views. Stamped on the backs of all these photographs, THIS IS A KODACOLOR PRINT MADE BY EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY T.M. REGIS. U.S. PAT. OFF. Week of July 12, 1954 III 2" And again, images from the life of Mr. Kenneth Bierke of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Associated with the Green Bay Business College, probably, first, as a teacher and then as an administrator. Eventually, when I get the entire collection posted, there will be images of his farm background, the parties, dances, and dinners attended, the wars fought, the wife on the home front, and in 1954, post war comfort, a nice car, some level of prosperity not known during the great depression and World War 2, that allowed he and his family to take a vacation. In the grand scheme of things, a pretty ordinary life, but one that covers a lot of the twentieth century, good and bad. Once again, click on Green Bay in the labels section to see the collection, posted to date.

Washerwomen In Stereo

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Printed on the back of the card, "50-(W8668) WASHERWOMEN ALONG THE NILE, EGYPT

These women are doing the family washing in the Nile. It is easier to come down to the river and do their washing than to carry the water to their homes. Then they see the other women and have a visit. Here, again, we see the beautiful Nile boats. Copyright by Keystone View Company" In 1892, Benneville Lloyd Singley, former salesman for Underwood & Underwood, one of the largest stereoview manufacturers of the day, set up his camera and took photographs of the flooding of French Creek in Pennsylvania. He mounted them on cards sold them, and began his own stereoview company. Three years latter, with 700 images in his catalog, he incorporated The Keystone View Company in Meadville, PA. Between 1915 and 1921, Keystone, became the most successful stereoview company in the world, not just by expanding it's own collection of images, but by buying out most of it's major competitors. By 1935, Keystone had over 2,000,000 views on file. (Note, I've been unable to determine whether the 2 million figure represents the number of negatives owned, or the number of views offered for sale.) While Keystone offered many novelty images, Singley, correctly, believed that the real success of the stereoview lay in offering images of the world, which would never been seen, in person, by his customers. While Keystone did all of it's manufacturing at it's Meadville headquarters, it would open offices in New York, Chicago, and London. It would also keep photographers on staff all over the world, not only photographing physical and cultural geographic images, but historical events. Singley also began a division in his company to produce glass "magic lantern" slides. He also made stereoview viewers and slide projectors. He aggressively marketed his products to schools. (I was born in 1955, started first grade in 1960, and my first grade teacher still used stereoviews to teach geography.) Singley retired in 1936, and sold all stock in his company to two employees, Charles Krandall, and George Hamilton. Keystone, under the new partner's leadership, continued to increase it's collection of images as well as starting a division to manufacture eye testing equipment. In 1963, Keystone was purchased by Mast Development Company of Davenport, Iowa. Mast continued with the manufacturing of eye testing equipment, eventually shutting down the Meadville offices and plant. In 1978, three tons of negatives and company records were donated to the University of California Riverside. The negatives are housed at the California state Photography Museum in Riverside.