When Photography Really Was: Plate #4

Many years ago I worked in a small neighborhood professional darkroom. We did all sorts of custom jobs for individuals and commercial clients. One of our specialties was handling old photographs.

One day a young girl came in with Grandma in tow. The desk person, Harriet, asked how she could help. The girl said, "Show her, Grandma." Whereupon Grandma handed over a small box of family glass plate negatives in various sizes. Harriet ran back to the darkroom to find me. The girl asked, "Can you do anything with these?" Absolutely.

These are straight contact prints from nine of those plates, made with Grandma's permission, that I was allowed to keep for myself. I thought it might be fun for everyone to see these. If you can fill in any additional details regarding locations, aircraft, cars, or anything else, please do. Especially possible original dates or time frames.

These contact prints date from around 1985. The photographs themselves seem to date from possibly the early 1900s. I know nothing more about their provenance other than that Grandma was a very nice lady.
This is a 3-1/2 x 5-7/8 inch plate.

Dad, Mom, and their two boys. One sullen, one goofing off. Nothing new there. Dad felt the need to dress up for his photograph, even if it required sitting in the grass. And not smiling. This was also the era of looking directly into the sun. Not even a hint of fill flash that afternoon.

And don't miss Mom holding the new puppy. No one told the poor pooch he had to sit still.

With the excepion of the missing chip on the lower right corner, this is probably the best preserved sheet of glass of these five.
 

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