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The Attic

I remember finding a wooden box in the attic of an older lecture hall at the University of Connecticut. It contained glass plate negatives. I was intrigued with an image of a house and wondered if it existed near campus. I took the plate to a camera shop had and them print a contact sheet so I could have a positive image. Surprisedly I was able to locate the house, surrounded by trees just off campus. This type of sleuthing has always been of interest to me since photography offers a way to look back in time. It was probably a inevitable that I would someday involved with historical photos.

New Ipswich Historical Society

When I became a member of the New Ipswich Historical Society, I offered to scan photos from photo albums to preserve them as digital files for publication. These were prints, many of which were faded and torn. I have enough skill in photoshop to bring back some details but there are limits to what can be done.

Faded Photo
Using photoshop to equalize the RGB levels of a faded photo from the New Ipswich Historical Society

Glass Plate Negatives

Glass plates were used as the first base for photographs from 1850 to 1920. I discovered that the New Ipswich Historical Society had several wooden boxes of negatives. Unlike the paper photographs, the glass images were pristine. I needed to devise a way to digitize them. This is not something that can be done with a regular slide or flatbed scanner.

The Rig

Digitizing Glass Negatives
Light table with plate glass negative

The first thing I did was buy an inexpensive light table. The new ones have LED lighting and produce a perfect backlight for the glass negative. The glass lies perfectly flat unlike film negatives which curl. I supported my camera with a mount and used a remote control for the shutter.

Appleton Dormitory
The only post processing needed is some cropping and inverting the image in Photoshop or other editor.
Tarbell-Ames House #34
Appleton Dormitory photo digitized

Portfolio

A collection of the digitized photos from glass plate negatives of the New Ipswich Historical Society. Many of these were reproduced as postcards.

  • Schoolhouse 11
  • Waterloom Mill
  • Waterloom Mill
  • The Eyrie
  • Tarbell-Ames House #34
  • Appleton Inn
  • The Gould House
  • 2015-007.004
  • The Turnpike, New Ipswich, NH
  • 2015-07-016 Souhegan River
  • Mrs.Tabraham's House in Bank Village
  • Center Village Cemetery
  • Barr Harbor South
  • Halfway House on Mount Monadnock
  • Group at Dr. Jones
  • Albro L. Balch Mill
  • Balch's Mill
  • 2015-07-013 Electric Dynamo
  • 2015-007.005
  • 2015-07-013 Electric Dynamo
  • 2015-07-014 Engine
  • Main Street, New Ipswich
  • Glass Plate Negatives 1
  • Glass Plate Negatives 2
  • Glass Plate Negatives 3
  • Glass Plate Negatives 4
  • Glass Plate Negatives 5
  • Glass Plate Negatives 6
  • Glass Plate Negatives 7
  • Glass Plate Negatives 8
  • Glass Plate Negatives 9
  • Glass Plate Negatives 10
  • Glass Plate Negatives 11
  • Glass Plate Negatives 12
  • Glass Plate Negatives 13
  • Glass Plate Negatives 14
  • Glass Plate Negatives 15
  • Glass Plate Negatives 16
  • Glass Plate Negatives 17
  • Glass Plate Negatives 18
  • Glass Plate Negatives 19
  • Glass Plate Negatives 20
  • Glass Plate Negatives 21
  • Glass Plate Negatives 22

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4 thoughts on “Glass Plate Negatives”

  1. John, it’s amazing what you do, and what you can figure out how to do! You are invaluable to the museum, and all of us.
    Do you/they know what those machines were being used to build or make? Or who was housed in the “dormitory”?

  2. We had cotton mills in New Ipswich which produced denim, There were all types of large machines. I suspect one of those photos was of a magneto that generated hydro power along the Souhegan River. The dormitory had students that went to Appleton Academy. It was the second oldest academy chartered in New Hampshire after Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter. The school building still stands as a private residence as does the dormitory. What is unique about this town is how many of the original buildings exist. I enjoy comparing the “then” and “now” photos as a member of the historical society. Remember my childhood home was demolished to make way for Rippowam High School. Fourth Street is my touchstone to the past.

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