Among family papers and photographs I inherited from my maternal
grandmother, I found what I thought was a photographic glass plate negative of
a young woman. Doing more research, I
found a fascinating CBS News article explaining how glass plate negatives had
been used starting in the 1850s to “etch” photographic images onto thin glass
plates that could then be used to transfer the images to paper.
In the 1870s, a “dry” version of glass negative was created which
was easier to use and required less exposure time. These glass negatives were used for almost
all types of photography until the late 1910s, when plastic negatives, known as
“films,” were introduced into mainstream photography after 20 years of being
inefficient and expensive. Although the
glass plate negatives provided better quality (more clarity of detail) than
films, they were more difficult to use, so quickly fell out of use for
mainstream photography. (Glass plate negatives remained in use for some professional
photography until the 1970s and there is still a small group of photographers
who use glass plates today for specialized photography.)
In performing this research, I realized that the glass plate
I held in my hand was not, actually, a glass negative. Glass plate negatives are extremely thin and
very fragile. Mine was thicker and more
durable. I wasn’t sure what to call what
I had, but I did know that I didn’t get a very good reading of the figure depicted,
so I set about making the image easier to interpret.
