BATAVIA, Ohio — A box of century-old glass plate negatives, discovered years ago tucked away in storage, has been restored and is giving the Clermont County Historical Society a look at faces from the county’s past it has yet to identify.
The society said in a Facebook post that the heavy cardboard box turned up during a cleanup of its office, museum and archives space. It was addressed to a board member who served on both the historical society and the Amelia Area Historical Society. Inside were small glass panes that, held up to the light, revealed photographic images.
“We had a box full of old glass plate negatives,” the society said, and turned to volunteer Mark Birkle to develop them. Glass plate negatives were a common photographic medium from the mid-1800s into the early 20th century, predating flexible film, and required specialized processing to recover an image decades later.
Birkle’s work showed that most of the plates had sustained damage from years of improper storage, and a number were total losses. On the ones that survived, the society said, the decay “kind of added to their charm.”
The identities of the people pictured remain a mystery, according to the society. A couple of the recovered plates bear the scratched initials “W.D.,” which the society believes may belong to the photographer. Researchers have positively identified a couple of buildings appearing in the images, suggesting the photographer had ties to the local area, the society said in the post.
The Clermont County Historical Society is a nonprofit organized to preserve, protect and promote the historical heritage of Clermont County. The society recently relocated to the Batavia Armory at 65 N. Second St., where it has said it is digitizing its collections.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the Clermont County Historical Society.