7/10 from my series of 19th century photos
At first, this appears to be an unremarkable photo, the composition is decent but the lighting and exposure aren't great. Also, wires and trees: the photographer's nemesis even in the 1890s.
And yet! This photo was the key to placing the entire negative collection into context. (See detail)
Original post for more context: https://mastodon.art/@jeremyosborn/116268053719423828
7/10 detail 1
Thanks to the detail in medium format dry plate negatives, we can read a partial sign on the building on the background and extrapolate the location..
The "Greenfield Light Infantry" was the second regiment of the M.V.M.
M.V.M. stands for "Massachusetts Volunteer Militia", which in 1907 turned into the National Guard.
So we are looking at the Armory building in Greenfield, Massachusetts sometime in the 1890s. But wait, there's more!
7/10 detail 2
I cannot claim credit for this part, Mastodon user @theotherbrook did some internet sleuthing, based on my research, and found the church on Google Street View!
Located at 399 Main St in Greenfield, MA. Today, this is the All Souls Unitarian church. The armory building, however, appears to be gone.
Greenfield is about 25 minutes away from my Vermont home, so I plan on visiting and trying to get a better photo for comparison.
7/10 update to the update.
Based on the tip from @theotherbrook I was able to drive to Greenfield, Massachusetts and get a better angle on the All Souls Church than Street View.
Further research showed that the church was built from 1894-1895, so the original photo shows a brand new building, now 131 years in the past. And the Unitarians have been there the entire time!
#Photography #History #glassnegatives #InternetSleuthing #greenfieldMA
Bonus content. In the detail photo above, the building in the background was the Armory building. I took a walk back there because I could see the roof profile of the existing building was the same.
Although the building was remodeled, at some point it became part of the Greenfield Recorder, the town's newspaper.
Jeremy Osborn