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Neelands and Spensers on front porch

I know that I have procrastinated so long that many of you may have thought I would never really get back to my manuscript to make revisions.  Well, I have!  While I was going through the manuscript, page by page, editing and tightening, I collected references to photographs taken at Isaac's farm.  This week's blog shares those references in hopes that someone might identify a photograph in their collection of old family pictures as fitting the description.  (The photo at right is one a blog follower shared with me of the Neelands, who are mentioned in Isaac's journal.)

 

Isaac met amateur photographer Seth Blake at a political rally in Pratt, KS in July of 1890 and was delighted to learn that Seth lived only 7 miles south of Isaac's homestead.  A quick friendship formed, and the following day the two men worked together at Isaac's farm building a dark tent.  Later that day they exposed 2 dry plate experimental views of Isaac's well curb and stable.  

 

Occasionally Seth would leave a camera with Isaac to use, but most of the time he came on Sundays to take the photographs himself.  Isaac took photographs of the Co-operative Potato Patch and of his horses.  When Seth came the following Sunday, he photographed the Millers, the Campbells, the Fracks, and the Fergusons at Isaac's farm, as well as a group of 9 women who posed under the trees and by Isaac's well curb.

 

Arthur, Hazel, Verna & Helen

One Sunday was particularly busy, beginning with appointments with Bonsals and Mayes at their homes, and continuing back at Isaac's farm of Graff and Penrose in their buggy, the Carr team and wagon, boys on horses, girls posed sweetly, Sadie and her children, and Mrs. Henn and her family.

 

The neighborhood made coming to Isaac's place a regular Sunday destination, whether to pose or merely to enjoy watching others being photographed.  One Sunday Seth Blake photographed one group of youngsters in the lovers' promenade and the McHenry team and his boys on horseback.  However, the center of attention that day had been Miss Anna Carr and Miss Balser.

 

Seth Blake failed to get photographs back to people promptly, and the enthusiasm for posing waned, but Isaac was still picking up photographs at Miss Shira's gallery for Blake the day before the 1890 November election.  That same trip, Isaac mailed views of his farm to Harry Bentley in Salt Lake City, and to his siblings.

 

On a later trip he complained about the quality of Miss Shira's work in processing the glass plate negatives, believing too much having been done by an apprentice rather than by Miss Shira herself.

 

As you can see, a great many of Isaac's neighbors had their photographs taken by Seth Blake, and most of those pictures were processed by Miss Shira's studio.  If you recognize any of the family names I hope you will take a moment to remember whether there are any old pictures in your collections that might match the underlined descriptions.  Most of these pictures were taken at Isaac's homestead, so it would be wonderful if an image of Isaac's farm could be found, and equally wonderful if images of people he mentioned in his journal could be located!

 

(Neither of the two photographs above was taken by Seth Blake, but they are intended to be representative of the types of pictures described.  The children on the horse are my aunts and uncle. ) 

Recording History with Photographs

Carol Long discusses future plans for Studio

On June 29, 1871, Isaac B. Werner wrote in his journal:  "During last few weeks I been reading considerable on photography...When we record our present views with Nature's pencil, how satisfactory to compare notes by and by, for better or worse."

Today smart phones are replacing cameras as the way to capture the moment and share it with friends.  Digital cameras turn amateurs into fairly proficient photographers, and computers can be used to alter images with a few simple clicks.  Most of us have countless photographs from which we can "compare notes by and by, for better or worse" of how children grew, loved ones aged, and landscapes and buildings changed.

However, early cameras were not so easy to use, and a trip to a photographer's studio for a formal portrait was not an everyday occasion.  (See "Isaac as Photographer" in the blog archives at 6-27-2012.)  The process was complicated and the equipment was cumbersome.  Photographs were especially treasured because they were few.

Entry from gallery to skylight studio (with salvaged materials)

For all of those reasons, it is rare that a community would have a treasure trove of images taken by a single studio; yet, Stafford County, Kansas, has such a rare treasure.  The Glass Negative Collection of the St. John Gray Studio gifted to the Stafford County Historical Society, with an estimated 32,700 negatives, is believed to be the largest glass plate collection of one community photographed by a single studio.  Sometimes we fail to appreciate the treasures in our own communities because we do not realize their significance, but our region should be very proud of this rare collection.  (See "Small town museums--Stafford County Historical Society," posted 1-6-2012, and  "...And may I Add," posted 3-24-2012, in the blog archives.)

Just in the nick of time, before the ravages of nature caused too much deterioration for the Gray Studio building to be rescued, local pottery artist Carol Long stepped forward to raise funds to preserve this valuable historic building.  Rescuing the studio building will insure that not only the glass negatives are preserved but also the W.R. Gray Studio will be restored and given a new life far into the future.  (See www.carollongpottery.com/ or you may visit Carol at her face book page.)

Visitor signs register & leaves donation

During the 2014 Jubilee in St. John during Memorial Weekend, the Gray Studio was open for the community to view the progress and the work ahead.  We spoke with Carol Long and learned of a grant available to continue the restoration if $10,000 can be raised by June 30th of 2014!  Otherwise, the opportunity for the grant will expire.  (To send a donation or inquire about further information contact Golden Belt Community Foundation, 307 Williams Street, Great Bend, KS 67530, or call 620/792-3000.)

W. R. Gray came to St. John to establish his studio in 1905.  The family's home was also in the building.  Of his five children, it was daughter Jessie who took over the studio after her father's death in 1947.  She retired from the business in 1981 and donated the glass plate negatives to the Stafford County Museum in 1986.  (Watch a wonderful video about the collection at vimeo.com/42284563.  Since the video was made, the collection is housed in a bank vault under more secure conditions.) 

Plans for the restoration of the building involve an apartment for a resident artist, the skylight studio area for classrooms and artist work space, and a gallery for exhibitions and sales of art.

Some printed negatives on display

W. R. Gray arrived in St. John a decade after Isaac's death, and although Isaac never fulfilled his dream of full-time photography, this region is fortunate to have the work of more than eight decades of negatives taken by the Gray family which preserve the history of Isaac's community.  It is certain that Isaac would have valued this amazing collection very highly, for he wrote that he disliked "see[ing] those beautiful views, nice refreshing perfect landscapes, pass by, without being recorded and be ready for [the] future."  The Gray Glass Negative Collection has preserved 'beautiful views' and portraits for future generations!

To enjoy images from the Gray Studio Glass Negative Collection  you may go to www.museum.staffordcounty.org/glass_negatives.html and follow the link to Fort Hays State University where the cleaned negatives are available for viewing on the internet.  

My husband & I enjoy a photo opportunity!

...And May I Add?

Spring has arrived in Kansas, and with a couple of days of rain, the wheat is growing, leaves on the trees are opening, and everything seems to be eager to crowd the season a bit. The sand hill plum blossoms opened earlier than usual, and like Isaac and his friends, we all have our fingers crossed that a late frost won't spoil the plum crop again this year. I opened our last jar of sand hill plum jelly a few days ago, and I need to restock the shelves this summer.

I'm not complaining, but the rain knocked some of the petals off before I got outside with my camera to take pictures, but for those of you who read my post of March 1, 2012 titled "Sand Hill Plums" and are interested in seeing what blooming plum bushes look like, I'm posting two pictures taken yesterday as we returned from Stafford. (You can click on the photographs to enlarge them, and if you look closely, you may be able to see the thorns.)

My husband and I were returning from the Stafford County Historical & Genealogical Society where we had hosted friends who spent the afternoon cleaning and cataloguing some of the glass plate negatives from the Gray Studio Collection. You may read my January 6, 2012 post about the "Stafford County Museum" collection by going to the blog archives. I bribed my friends a little by planning a tea party as an excuse for gathering at the museum, but it was really their spirit of volunteerism that caused them to accept my invitation.

The Gray Studio Glass Plate Negative Collection may be seen at http://www.contentcat.fhsu.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/stafford.

Small town museums--Stafford County Historical Society

The Stafford County Historical & Genealogical Society is building poor. So many landmark buildings along the Main Street of Stafford have been gifted to the Society, that much of their budget is spent maintaining what they have received. It is another case of generous donors, unpaid volunteers, and a hard working Executive Secretary rescuing and preserving the history of the community for future generations. During the past two years, I have spent many days doing research at this museum.

The Stafford County Historical Society acquired a real treasure several years ago. For two generations, the Gray family operated a photography studio at 116 N. Main in St. John. Begun by W.R. Gray in 1905, the studio building also contained the family home. A son, Royal, followed his father's profession, operating a studio in Ulysses, Kansas, and another son, Dr. Arzy Gray, worked as a chemist for Eastman Kodak. After attending what is now UCLA, daughter Jessie became her father's business partner in 1940, assuming the business seven years later when her father died. When Jessie retired in 1981 she donated an estimated 29,000 glass plate negatives to the Stafford County Museum. The museum curator believes it is the largest glass negative collection in the country specific to one location. Imagine standing at a window and watching a parade of people representing nearly eight decades of one community's citizens, together with a backdrop of businesses, farms, sporting events, festivals, and other moments captured by the photographers. The people you observe are mute, frozen in their own times, and you cannot call out to them the questions you would like to ask, but they tell a story of their particular period in their clothing, hairstyles, and poses. Volunteers continue to labor cleaning the negatives and documenting the subjects portrayed, a time-consuming task.

In an arrangement with Fort Hays Kansas State University, the photographs are available for viewing online at http://contentcat.fhsu.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/stafford where you can see hundreds of turn-of-the-century images, with more appearing periodically as the glass plates are cleaned. Unfortunately for me, Gray's Studio did not exist until after Isaac's death, and although I know he sat for studio portraits in both St. John and Pratt, I have not been able to locate those pictures.

Most of my time at the museum has been spent looking at old newspapers, so much better than doing that research with microfilm. It is quite incredible to handle the actual old newspapers, yellowed and brittle with age, but filled with news of the times--local, national and international, as well as gossipy community reports about new babies, neighborhood illnesses, crops, community feuds, and all sorts of things. After many days of standing at a raised table, carefully turning the fragile pages, and reading about what was happening in the world in which Isaac lived, I sometimes felt I had been there.

An amazing discovery for me was finding how often Isaac's own writing was published in the County Capital. He authored articles about his experiments with different varieties of potatoes, as well as his carefully documented experiments with corn, planting different varieties and recording dates of planting, as well as depths of sowing the seeds and distances for spacing the rows. I also found Isaac's name listed as an officer of several farmers' organizations, and articles authored by him related to his participation in those groups.

Michael Hathaway, the Stafford Historical Society's Curator and Executive Secretary, was a great help to me as I spent many days of research at the museum. Returning to read newspapers over a century old, I became a sporadic "regular" at the morning coffee sessions, joining a dependable crew of volunteers who donate their time to keep the museum going for little compensation other than a few cups of coffee.

(For some reason the link to the Gray Studio site is not working, but the address is correct, if you will enter it yourself. It is worth the visit!)