I****gram Archive — Ralph Brandi (@thereisnocat)

This is an interesting shot. There’s a 4.25 x 4.25 print of this one, but the negative is 5 x 7. With the masking, it’s like she shot this specifically to print on that paper. Like the first photo in this series, this shows four generations of the Garner family women: Harriet Murray Garner, the matriarch; Eleanora Garner Colton, Harriet’s daughter and the photographer of all these shots; Eleanora’s daughter Loui Colton Johnston, and Loui’s daughter Helen Johnston.
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Sun Feb 10 2019
There are a couple of photos in the collection that don’t include any people. Like this. I don’t think this is the main house. Between the pictures of parts of the house and photos I’ve seen online as part of a campaign to save the Garner House, which is apparently in a state of disrepair today, I think this may be an outbuilding on the property.
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Sun Feb 03 2019
Same porch as the last shot. The dog is also here, but not begging. Harriet Murray Garner is of course at the center. And you can see the shadow of the photographer and camera.
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Sat Feb 02 2019
I think this is a self-portrait of Eleanora. It seems to have been taken at the same time as the first photo in this series that I posted, the 4 generations shot. This is another 4.25 x 4.25 negative. That other photo was shot on 5x7. Maybe she had two different cameras?
#dryplate #dryplatephotography #dryplatenegative #film #filmphotography #filmphotographic #foundphoto #foundphotos #garnerfamilyarchive
Thu Jan 31 2019
No notes on this one, either. Negative only, no print, another one of the oddball 4.25 x 4.25 plates. Most of the photos in this archive are of the women in the family. I assume this must have been taken at a holiday gathering. There are at least two sets of siblings in here just judging by the looks and dress.
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Wed Jan 30 2019
I’m not sure who this is. This is one of the negatives with no corresponding print, so no documentation, and I don’t see this gentleman in any other shots. It’s not Wesley Garner. He died on January 1, 1889, and these photos are from a good 10 years after that. Given that the photos were shot by Wesley’s daughter Eleanora, I’m going to guess that this is likely to be her husband Francis, who was 57 years old in 1900.
This dry plate negative is a size I’ve never seen: 4.25 inches by 4.25 inches. That obviously doesn’t fit into the modern large format system of 4x5, 5x7, 8x10, etc. but I also don’t see it in the older plate system, either. I see glass half plate listed as 6.5 x 4.25, and quarter plate as 4.25 x 3.25. But it must have been a thing. The negatives are stored in a box of paper that was 4.25 x 4.25, presumably for contact printing exactly this kind of negative.
#dryplate #dryplatephotography #dryplatenegative #film #largeformat #filmphotography #garnerfamilyarchive #foundphoto #foundpicture
Tue Jan 29 2019
Harriet Murray Garner with her great-granddaughter, Helen Johnston. Helen looks to be maybe 8 or 9 years old here, and she was born in February, 1891, so this photo, scanned from a print, appears to be from about 1899 or 1900. More than one photo of Helen shows her with her face in a book. She must have been pretty smart. By 1925, she had her M.D. degree and was working as a physician in Des Moines. She died in Riverside, California, in June, 1969, and was buried back home in Columbus City, Iowa. I can’t find any record of her ever marrying.
This is one of several prints for which there is no negative.
#dryplate #dryplatephotography #dryplateportraits #foundphotos #foundphoto #film #iowa #filmphotography #garnerfamilyarchive
Mon Jan 28 2019

Same porch as the last shot. The dog is also here, but not begging. Harriet Murray Garner is of course at the center. And you can see the shadow of the photographer and camera.

I think this is a self-portrait of Eleanora. It seems to have been taken at the same time as the first photo in this series that I posted, the 4 generations shot. This is another 4.25 x 4.25 negative. That other photo was shot on 5x7. Maybe she had two different cameras?