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 f the many treasures in the NCR Archive, one of the most important, and most often mentioned, is the collection of glass plate negatives. Gelatin dry glass plate negatives, as they are officially known, were the first mass-produced, ready-to-use film made available to photographers. The film, or plates, were made by coating a piece of glass with an emulsion that would remain light sensitive when dry, a great leap forward over previous processes that required the film to be used before the emulsion dried. For the first time, film could be produced in advance, stored and shipped, greatly freeing up the photographer and increasing the ease with which images could be made. Dry glass plates were most commonly used between 1880 and 1920, though for some special applications they remained in use as late as the 1970’s. They come in a variety of sizes; within the NCR collection are negatives as small as 3" x 5" and as large as 11" x 17", with the bulk being 8" x 10". Negatives this large (almost as big as a standard piece of paper) allow a large amount of detail to be captured and reproduced in photographs. It is not uncommon in images made with glass plate negatives to be able to make out the tiniest signs in the background of the photograph. Perhaps the most important aspect of glass plate negatives is their durability. Assuming it isn’t dropped or broken, a glass plate is the most stable of all the backings a negative can be placed on–it is hard to damage and fairly resistant to changes in temperature and humidity. Even with this durability, though, it is unusual to find a collection of glass plate negatives as large or wide-ranging as that in the NCR Archive. A Legacy on Glass Numbering more than 100,000 images, the glass plate negatives account for approximately one-twelfth of all the images in the collection. They cover a wide range of topics, from local history to international events, and almost everything in between. Some of the most intriguing images are found in a group of negatives known as "Installations." These were photographs taken at each location an NCR cash register was installed - grocery stores, banks, bars, and any number of other businesses. While these photos were intended to be used to advertise registers, they managed to capture much of every day life, including details such as the food items available on the shelves of the grocery store. The three photographs shown here are samples of the local images that can be found in the collection.  The first
shows workers, with shovels in hand, on a Cadillac truck getting
ready to go clean up after the 1913 flood in Dayton. While primarily
of interest because of its connection with the flood, this photograph
is also an example of the many transportation images in the Archive. The second
photograph is a scene looking north on the Miami-Erie Canal at East
Fifth Street. The canal would later be filled in and become Patterson
Boulevard. Today, this area is the west entrance to the Oregon Historic
District.
The final photograph is of Miss Angers sitting on the porch of the
playhouse that her father, Louis Angers, built for her. It is likely
that Louis Angers was an NCR employee, and that this photo was taken
for use in the NCR News or some other company publication. We are just beginning to catalog this collection, and we will be making it available to the public a portion at a time. An extraordinary legacy documenting an important period in Miami Valley history, we look forward to sharing these images with the public. BACK TO TOP |
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