The Camera Used by Town Historian William R. Montgomery

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Several times this year I have published Blog postings that deal with the treasures contained in the William R. Montgomery Glass Negatives Collection maintained by The Office of The Historian of The Town of Pelham. On February 17, I posted to the Historic Pelham Blog an extensive item entitled "The Glass Negatives of Former Town Historian William R. Montgomery". On April 11, I posted an item entitled "More From the William R. Montgomery Glass Negatives Collection". On September 8 I posted an item entitled "Glass Lantern Slides Included in the William R. Montgomery Glass Negatives Collection". Today's posting will provide information about the camera that William R. Montgomery used to take the historic photographs of Pelham and surrounding areas in the 1920s.

After Mr. Montgomery's death, a large collection of glass plate negatives and lantern slides were found in his attic. Many contained images of buildings, structures, gardens and other such things in and around Pelham during the 1920s. Stored with the collection was a camera that Montgomery apparently used to take the many photographs. That camera, pictured immediately below, is in the collection of The Office of The Historian of The Town of Pelham.

Image Courtesy of The Office of

The Historian of The Town of Pelham.

The camera is an Eastman Kodak Company Premo 9 manufactured in about April, 1918. The photograph of the camera that appears above shows it without the camera bellows extended. To see an example of a Premo No. 9 with the bellows extended, click here. Found with the camera in Mr. Montgomery's attic was the owner's manual for the camera. The image below shows the cover of that booklet.

Image Courtesy of The Office of

The Historian of The Town of Pelham.

Compared to the ease with which high resolution digital images can be created today with professional quality high resolution digital cameras, seeing Mr. Montgomery's camera makes clear the burdens and difficulties that he faced to photograph Pelham and surrounding areas.

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