Snapshots of life at the turn of the 20th Century
We recently went through our archives at the museum, and found a set of exposed glass “dry plate” negatives from the M.A. Seed Dry Plate Company. M. A. Seed Dry Plate Company was founded in 1883 in St. Louis, Missouri by Miles Anscow Seed. Born in Lancashire, England in 1843, Miles moved to the United States in 1867 and worked for a photographic studio. There he conducted experiments in attempt to simplify the photographic process. In 1879, he released the more practical photographic dry plate that was quickly dubbed the “Seed Dry Plate”.
By the 20th Century, the Seed Dry Plate was regarded as “the finest in the World”. Outside of the successful commercial business of producing and selling these plates, Miles was committed to teaching other photographers how to get the most out of the plates and was often the speaker at many photography seminars and conventions. Mr. Seed’s company was incorporated in July 1883, and the Eastman Kodak conglomerate bought the company in 1902.
(source: https://historiccamera.com/cgi-bin/librarium2/pm.cgi?action=app_display&app=datasheet&app_id=2041)
The above information gives us a timeline in which these plates were acquired by the unknown photographer, but little else is confirmed about these photos. There are no notes as to who the people are, where the photos were taken, or the exact year or years they were taken.
Below are the images from the first two boxes of plates. Each plate was placed on a light table and a cell phone was used to photograph the negative. Using Photoshop, we inverted the negative to get a positive photo. Besides cropping and minimal sharpening or contrast correcting, the photos are straight from the plates.
We are asking everyone reading this to help us identify people, places or objects in these photos in hopes to put together a story of the lives these plates reflect from over a century ago. Do you recognize a face? Maybe you have seen a house or farmstead. Do you have information on the cars or toys in the photos?
Please review these photos below and send us a message via email with any information you might have.
