Photos from lost negatives fill in Miner history

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August 22, 2009

By BRUCE ROWLAND The Press Republican Sat Aug 22, 2009, 11:28 PM EDT

It's a treasure trove — about 5,000 glass-plate and acetylene photographic negatives recently rediscovered at William H. Miner Agricultural Research Institute.

The negatives provide a window into the history of North Country agriculture and are filling in gaps in the knowledge of Miner and his vast operations, including how he constructed and operated his farm.

"It's a wonderful visual and historical record of farming," said Rick Grant, Miner Institute president. A hundred years later, he said, it's amazing to see how they harvested wheat, corn and other crops near the turn of the last century.

FINE DETAIL
Now, with the help of a $50,000 matching agritourism grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, all these historic negatives are being digitized and cataloged into a searchable database for permanent preservation.

This photographic story of the history and construction of the 300 buildings on Miner's Heart's Delight Farm in Chazy and his many other holdings was very nearly lost, an ironic circumstance in light of Miner's penchant for meticulous documentation and record keeping.

The negatives, painstakingly arranged and labeled, some in leather-covered books, record Miner's many projects at various stages of development along with every aspect of life, work and play on Heart's Delight Farm. And, in typical Miner fashion, the quality of the mostly 8-by-10- and 4-by-6-inch negatives is exceptional, with detail so fine they could be blown up to mural size.

The story of the photographic plates began in the 1970s when the Miner holdings were headquartered in Chicago. Around that time, the IRS determined that the foundation portion had to be spun off from the profit-making division of Miner Enterprises, according to Miner Institute librarian Amy Bedard, who is in charge of the photo project. It was determined that the business records should be kept there and the historic material should be sent to Chazy.

In the winter of 1974, two Miner employees flew to Chicago and made the return trip in a rented U-Haul truck. Among the material they transported back, buried with boxes of papers, were the six crates containing the negatives.

For a quarter of a century, the crates remained in an attic at Miner Institute above where the heritage exhibit is now, largely unnoticed.

Director of Physical Plant Steve Fessette, who loved to explore the lofts of the old farm buildings and collect artifacts, is credited with rediscovering them so their relevance and value could be recognized.

In a fortunate stroke, the negatives had been carefully stored, and the temperature and humidity levels of the attic were suitable for preservation. They were later brought to the basement of the library, where preservation conditions were also favorable.

"It ended up being a good spot, even though it was the basement," Bedard said.

MUCH LEFT TO DO
Over the next few years, it was decided to create an exhibit using the old photographs — the Heart's Delight Farm Heritage Exhibit. The grant received in April 2008 shifted the project into overdrive, as the funds helped pay for computer software and a high-tech scanner that would accommodate the 8-inch-thick glass plates.

Bedard said the photos begin in about 1903 and range up until the time of Miner's death in 1930. While seen in some photos himself, the photographer remains unidentified.

"It would be wonderful to know," Bedard said. "I see him in various photos, and I wonder what his name was."

The content covers a wide area from workers and visitors to the farm — who included such notables as Diamond Jim Brady and the Vanderbilts — to depictions of award-winning sheep, cows, pigs, buffalo and bears. It covers Miner's various construction projects and details of life on the farm.

"You name it, he took pictures of it," Bedard said. "There were lots of famous visitors. That really put Chazy on the map."

The photos, blueprints and maps helped the institute reconstruct the diorama of the original farm for the Heritage Exhibit.

"It's enjoyable," Bedard said. "I get to look at all the documents and make sure they're preserved properly for future generations."

While much progress has been made, there remains a lot to do.

"We still have another 3,000 or so left to digitalize," she said.

While most of them have been looked over briefly with a light box, there's still that chance of a special discovery.

"We've seen them and sort of know what's there," Bedard said.

But until they go through the scanner and pop up on the computer screen, it's hard to see the detail.

Bedard said decisions still have to be made about how to make the collection accessible to the public while making sure it is properly preserved.

"Right now, just by our being here, it changes the humidity and temperature levels," she said.

Ironically, one subject that doesn't appear too often in the photos is William H. Miner himself. When Dr. Joseph Burke, Miner Institute Board of Trustees chairman, was looking for photos of Miner for a book he's been working on, there were few to be found, and those that were appeared highly staged.

"There were a few more of (Miner's wife) Alice than there were of him," Bedard said. "Maybe he was camera shy, or maybe he was such a busy man the photographer couldn't catch him."