Kodak Ordinary C Glass Plate Camera. American, c. 1892, for exposures 4 x 5in. on glass plates, with string set sector shutt...

Description

Kodak Ordinary C Glass Plate Camera
American, c. 1892, for exposures 4 x 5in. on glass plates, with string set sector shutter and achromatic lens with wheel of stops.

Typewritten label affixed to the inside front cover reads "Eastman Dry Plate Camera. Used by W.H. Mathews Sr. beginning in 1891 when he was a professional photographer. Together with a partner he had a studio in a railroad coach, they would move from town to town and take portraits. When in Linden Texas my mother Ida Earp came in to have her picture taken. This was the first meeting of my father and Mother. W.H. Mathews, Jr."

Another paper affixed to the inside of the back cover reads "This camera was used by my father Wm. H. Mathews, Sr. when he was a professional photographer circa 1892-1894 and was used occasionally thru the 1920's. My father and a partner named Stall had a railroad car outfitted as a studio during this period in which they travelled from town to town in East Texas. They would have their car hooked on behind a train and would have it placed on a siding in the towns. They would print handbills on their own printing press, distribute them, make portraits, deliver them, and move on to the next town. My father first met my mother Ida E. Earp of Linden Texas, when he made her portrait. Wm. H. Mathews, Jr."

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