Glass Plate, Coleraine Public School
This glass plate image is of the School and Community Picnic, Coleraine Public School, ca. 1900, from the McClure Family Fonds. Glass plates were used as a base before film or paper became popular in the early twentieth century. The first process of adhering an image to a glass plate was invented in 1851 by Frederick Scott Archer, a British inventor who introduced the wet collodion process. It was popular until the late 1880’s. The wet collodion process was replaced by the gelatin dry plate, invented in 1871 by Dr. Richard L. Maddox. In addition to using a unique chemical composition, the gelatin emulsion process was different as the plate was dried, before being exposed in the camera. Plates produced with this technique were able to be transported more easily and required less exposure than those produced through the wet collodion process. Both methods produced images that were clear, detailed and reproducible. Glass plate photography was used from its introduction in the 1850’s and sparked the creation of do-it-yourself manuals in the 1860’s. It was a common process until the early 1900’s before being succeeded by film and paper.
City of Vaughan Archives: MG 68
Glass Plate, Coleraine Public School
This glass plate image is of the School and Community Picnic, Coleraine Public School, ca. 1900, from the McClure Family Fonds. Glass plates were used as a base before film or paper became popular in the early twentieth century. The first process of adhering an image to a glass plate was invented in 1851 by Frederick Scott Archer, a British inventor who introduced the wet collodion process. It was popular until the late 1880’s. The wet collodion process was replaced by the gelatin dry plate, invented in 1871 by Dr. Richard L. Maddox. In addition to using a unique chemical composition, the gelatin emulsion process was different as the plate was dried, before being exposed in the camera. Plates produced with this technique were able to be transported more easily and required less exposure than those produced through the wet collodion process. Both methods produced images that were clear, detailed and reproducible. Glass plate photography was used from its introduction in the 1850’s and sparked the creation of do-it-yourself manuals in the 1860’s. It was a common process until the early 1900’s before being succeeded by film and paper.
City of Vaughan Archives: MG 68