Dear Don,
No apology necessary. I found your description of Syracuse University's
storage area fascinating. I'm sure they were doing the best they could at
that time (15-20 years ago), but one wonders how much better preserved the
glass plate negatives would be if, for example, they had been stored under
controlled temperature and humidity. Anyone who has opened Taber, or maybe
Lowenthal and Greenberg, can appreciate the quality of the glass plate
images, which, if memory serves, is the same format that Ansel Adams used
for a time. In any case, I'll add that it must have been extremely
difficult trying to determine what negatives were of interest until a
negative is printed (into a positive). My indirect involvement in the
Syracuse University glass plate collection had to do with a good friend who
worked with a member of the Bunnell family (as in WB Bunnell, the DL&W
photographer). (Tracing which of the two photographers took the early DL&W
photographs is complicated by the fact that both men, as you know, had the
exact same initials--WBB--which were place on all their photographs.) Be
that as it may, my friend tried to encourage his co-worker to try to find
out if the family still had their grandfather's notebook which contained a
listing of all his photographs and corresponding index numbers.
Based on my discussions with my friend, apparently there were hard feelings
held by WB Bunnell, who I believe may have been fired by the DL&W. He
apparently took his index with him and put it in his attic. To make a long
story short, if that's possible at this point, the granddaughter couldn't
or wouldn't find the index book. Reading between the lines of what I was
told, the book exists, but that's just my impression. What a "find" that
would be! But getting back to my original point, it seems that Syracuse
was "protecting" the collection by prohibiting access to it. Fortunately
or unfortunately, some of the best glass plates were removed from the
collection and probably have fared much better because of it. Based on
your description of the condition of the plates, I wonder how much is now
usable. I will try to contact John Willever, as you suggested, to see if
he has more up to date information on the state of the Syracuse collection.
In the end, I hope that the EL collection fares better.
Chuck
"Donald
Barnickel"
<JDBAR_@_worldnet.a To
tt.net> "EL Mail List"
<erielack_@_lists.elhts.org>
03/05/2007 12:47 cc
AM
Subject
(erielack) Re: ELHS Archives -
Please respond to Erie/DL&W Corporate Photograph
"EL Mail List" Collection
<erielack_@_lists.e
lhts.org>
Dear Chuck,
When I went up to Syracuse the first time in the late 1980's, I was in the
company of John Willever. John had arranged for us to meet Alvin Smith,
who was also visiting Syracuse during the same week. To use the archives,
you had to sign an agreement that had a bunch of conditions on removal,
right to use, reproduction, credit, etc. I don't think it was the
University's policy to allow anyone into their archives, but who could
refuse two older gentlemen with such boyish enthusiasm? If I recall
correctly, we were essentially secured in the warehouse so that we would
not be able to remove anything from the collection. The University also
provided John and Alvin with a cart, so they could separate the negatives
they wanted photos reproduced from. (Talk about kids in a candy store!)
At that time, the collection was in reasonable condition, given its size,
lack of use, age, and probably the condition in which it was received from
the original railroad owners. I know John and Alvin expressed concern to
the staff over the silver disappearing from the edges of the glass
negatives, cracked plates, and film negatives that had melted together.
(Apparently they had seen the collection in better condition before this
particular trip.) There were some film negatives, mostly by W.B. Barry
(who used film as well as glass), that were of no practical use due to
deterioration. If I recall correctly, storage for individual plates varied
from wooden boxes to cardboard folders. (A box would typically contain
five or six 8" by 10" plates, some plates having paper sleeves, some
without sleeves.) Again, my memory is fading here, but I believe that a
number of the Erie negatives were in the sturdier wooden boxes with
identification on the paper sleeves of the individua!
l plates. I believe John commented that the shelves I was looking through
were the basis for "The Next Station Will Be..." series by the
Railroadians. (Perhaps that's why they had some identification.) Likewise,
the paper material and ledger books varied in condition from pretty good to
falling apart. Keep in mind though that some of this stuff was over a
hundred years old.
The shelves were very tall, allowing little light to penetrate the stacks.
Perhaps that was a good thing for preservation, but I remember wanting a
miner's helmet with a light to see what I was looking through. I seem to
recall dust on everything, which may have been there from the collection's
railroad-ownership days. I also remember needing to wash my hands after
leaving and being afraid of cross-contaminating material even with our
"archival" white gloves on. I believe the head librarian said that
Syracuse was trying to improve the conditions in their warehouse.
When I returned several years later (without the benefit of John and
Alvin's company), Syracuse would not allow anyone in the warehouse. The
agreement one signed to use the archives had more conditions. You also
needed to know what you were looking for, and request that it be brought up
either later that day or the next day to the main campus library. That was
a little difficult given that the original corporate indices for the
photographs had disappeared long before the collection was donated to
Syracuse. Fortunately, the staff was nice if not fully knowledgeable about
the specific contents of the collection.
Syracuse did have the start of a new index, but as I recall, it was
established in part by an earlier program that Tri-State had attempted at
Bob Bahrs' encouragement. Bob had suggested bringing some older
railroaders up to Syracuse to identify the negatives before their memories,
like the silver on the plates, faded for all practical purposes. This
index does list several hundred negatives, perhaps as many as a thousand.
(Bob can correct me if my memory is wrong here.)
I don't know what Syracuse has accomplished since the early 1990's. I
don't know if their intentions for improving the warehouse were ever
carried out or if they added significantly to the re-created index.
Certainly in the late 1980's there was a great opportunity for improvements
in storage, cataloging, retrieval, and reproduction. I just don't know if
they took advantage of that opportunity; I'd like to give them the benefit
of the doubt. As with the ELHS archives and the Tri-State archives, we can
be thankful that the material wasn't thrown out. John Willever probably
has more up-to-date information than I do, so you might want to check with
him. I'd be interested in anything you learn.
Finally, while the bulk of the Erie/DL&W corporate photograph collection
resides at Syracuse, at least two authors borrowed negatives from that
collection. As you're aware, Taber borrowed some plates before the
collection arrived at Syracuse for his three-volume set of Lackawanna
books. It's my understanding that those negatives now reside in the State
RR Museum of Pennsylvania as part of "The Taber Collection". Another
author (whose name escapes me) also borrowed a significant number of
negatives shortly after the collection arrived at Syracuse. I believe
those now reside at Southern Methodist University.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention in my last e*mail that the collection also
contained a significant amount of material from the anthracite mining
companies before the railroads were ordered to divest their holdings by the
Federal Gov't. In addition to the ledgers, books, and other paper, there
were a number of glass negatives on mines and mine safety.
Please accept my apologies for a long answer to your simple question.
Don Barnickel
- ----- Original Message -----
From: <Charles_Walsh_@_Berlex.com>
To: "EL Mail List" <erielack_@_lists.elhts.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 04, 2007 9:20 PM
Subject: Re: (erielack) Re: ELHS archives
> Don,
>
> Perhaps you could describe the conditions under which the collections up
at
> Syracuse University are stored . I've never been there.
>
> Chuck
>
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