Boston Camera Club

History

Photography was announced publicly in 1839. For some decades practice was limited largely to professionals because it involved laborious wet-plate processes. Amateur photography in the United States received major impetus in 1880 when the future Eastman Kodak Co. introduced dry plates—glass plates with chemical emulsion already applied. In 1888 Kodak introduced the first flexible roll photographic medium—first paper and soon film—and third-party processing. These innovations brought photography to the masses. Still, camera club photography typically used glass plates until the early 20th century, when the capabilities of film began to approach that of glass. Outside processing of photographs was typically eschewed, if not outright prohibited, in camera clubs until the color photography era.

Boston Society of Amateur Photographers, 1881

The club known today as the Boston Camera Club was founded October 7, 1881 in Boston, Massachusetts as the Boston Society of Amateur Photographers. It is the second-oldest continuously extant camera club, and perhaps photographic organization of any kind, founded at least in part by amateurs in the United States.

The club was founded by F. H. Blair, James M. Codman, W. C. Greenough, A. P. Howard, Lucius L. Hubbard, Frederick Ober, and John H. Thurston, with Thurston having the most influential role. At first temporary officers were elected. The seven men were joined on November 18, 1881 by James F. Babcock, William T. Brigham, Wilfred A. French, and William A. Hovey, at which time permanent officers were elected—Brigham president, Babcock vice president, and French secretary and treasurer.

At first the club met in the offices of the Boston Sunday Budget. Later it met at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at the time located in Boston.

Boston Camera Club, 1886

As amateur photography in the United States became widespread, in 1886 the club changed its name to the Boston Camera Club. On April 6, 1887 it incorporated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under the new name, stating as its purpose the furthering of "the knowledge of photography in all its branches and the promotion of social intercourse among the amateur photographers of Boston and vicinity."

50 Bromfield Street, 1886–1924

In 1886 the Boston Camera Club established permanent headquarters at 50 Bromfield Street, Boston. The address may have been selected by being the place of business of both club founder John H. Thurston and early vice president Charles Henry Currier. The club had eight rooms:

"There is a well-selected library ...; a large exhibition gallery ...; a studio ... fitted with screens, cameras, and 2 of the finest Dallmeyer portrait lenses, also a fine double stereopticon; an enlarging room, with apparatus for making bromide enlargements, enlarged negatives and lantern slides by the use of an electric arc light; dark rooms ..."

Importantly, at 50 Bromfield Street the Boston Camera Club held public exhibitions of photography featuring works by both its members and prominent guest photographers.

Early 20th-century difficulties

For reasons not yet researched, difficulties arose by 1913 and lasted until 1931. Membership in the Boston Camera Club declined and it is believed few regular meetings were held. The club was kept alive by the financial and administrative efforts of Frank Roy Fraprie (FRAY-pree) (1874–1951), Phineas Hubbard (president 1908–1913 and possibly longer), Horace A. Latimer (1860–1931), and John Thurston. It is believed that in 1924 the club left 50 Bromfield Street, and for some years it met at the Boston Young Men's Christian Union (YMCU).

In this period amateur photography in Boston seems to have been dominated by three organizations: Boston Young Men's Christian Union Camera Club, extant from 1908 until at least the 1920s; Boston Photo-Clan, extant by 1912 but apparently defunct by about 1921, in which noted Boston photographer John H. Garo was dominant and whose studio were its headquarters; and the Boston Arts and Crafts Society.

Horace A. Latimer bequest, 1931

In 1931 a bequest by longtime club member Horace A. Latimer, an independently wealthy amateur photographer of some renown, reinvigorated the Boston Camera Club. With the funds the club would purchase new headquarters. First, however, it moved to 330 Newbury Street in the Back Bay section of Boston, which it occupied until 1934.

351A Newbury Street, 1934–1980

In 1934 the Boston Camera Club purchased a building at 351A Newbury Street, Back Bay, Boston with part of Horace Latimer's bequest. The club occupied three floors. There were a large and small exhibition gallery, darkroom, library and kitchen. Public exhibitions of photography resumed.

Membership in the club grew again, for example reaching 286 members in 1946. For tax purposes, that year the club decided to sell its 351A building and remain in the building as a lessee.

Club growth continued, reaching 555 in 1959—492 regular, 51 associate and 4 honorary members—a level maintained for some two decades. Besides post-war prosperity, the growth is attributable to the introduction of 35mm film by Kodak in the 1930s, and single lens reflex (SLR) 35mm cameras by Nikon, Pentax and other manufacturers in the 1960s. During this era enthusiasts often sought out instruction in the use of their cameras by joining a camera club.

Brookline, Mass., 1980–present

In 1980 the 351A Newbury Street building was sold and the Boston Camera Club moved from Boston to the adjacent town of Brookline, Mass. In 1997 it moved across town to its current location in Brookline.

In the 1980s and 1990s membership again declined dramatically, a trend attributable to camera automation—for example autofocus and programmed exposure, which reduced the need for user instruction—consumer video, and other social factors. Since 2000 membership has increased again to about 150 today, due in large part to the club's emphasis on digital photography.

Exhibitions and salons

The exhibition history of the Boston Camera Club is long and somewhat complex. The club has hosted several species of photographic shows—exhibitions by its members, joint shows with other camera clubs, exhibitions by noted outside photographers and camera clubs, and annual salons—judged competitive exhibitions of photography open to the international public.

Early member exhibitions, 1880s–1910

About 1883 the Boston Society of Amateur Photographers, as the club was first known, held its first exhibition at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an unusually large show of some 700 photographic prints. The third exhibition in 1885 included male nudes, raising eyebrows in highly conservative Boston. In 1892 the club exhibited in the triennial exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. In the club's seventh and tenth member exhibitions, in 1895 and 1898, member Emma D. Sewall received the top award. In the 1898 show Sarah Jane Eddy, and painter and member of the Photo-Secession Sarah Choate Sears, were prominent as well.

In 1900 the Boston Camera Club held an exhibition by member Fred Holland Day. In 1904 it exhibited its members' work at Day's Boston studio. The same year the club helped organize, and exhibited in, a photograph exhibition at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the St. Louis World's Fair.

The club's annual show of 1910, which photographic journal Photo-Era called the club's "best for many years," had prints by Sarah Jane Eddy, Frank R. Fraprie, Horace A. Latimer, and Joseph Prince Loud. The 1910 show is the last exhibition known to be held by the club until 1932, when it launched the Boston Salon.

Joint Exhibitions of Photography, 1887–1894

The Joint Exhibitions of Photography were sponsored jointly by the Boston Camera Club, Photographic Society of Philadelphia, and Society of Amateur Photographers of New York. The venue rotated annually among the three cities. The Boston club participated in the first seven exhibitions, from 1887 to 1894. At first all three clubs shared in the preparation for each show.

In the first Joint Exhibition, held in New York City in 1887, Joseph Prince Loud (later Boston Camera Club president, 1897–1901) and Horace A. Latimer received the Boston club's only diplomas. In the third Joint Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1889, Boston was represented by Wilfred A. French; Horace Latimer, the club's only award winner; and William Garrison Reed.

Starting with the fourth Joint Exhibition in New York City in 1891, collaborative preparation ended and each club individually ran the exhibition in the city in which it was held. In the 1891 exhibition Latimer exhibited the most prints from the Boston club. The fifth Joint Exhibition, held at the Boston Art Club in 1892, included 18 prints by Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946) and 45 prints by Boston Camera Club member Francis Blake, Jr.

Of the sixth Joint Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1893, Stieglitz said, "It was, without doubt, the finest exhibition of photographs ever held in the United States, and probably was but once excelled in any country." After the seventh exhibition in 1894, the Boston Camera Club withdrew from the Joint Exhibitions, citing lack of manpower.

1900s salon

The Boston Camera Club has had two series of photography salons, or competitive exhibitions. The first series of salons were held in the first decade of the 20th century. At present only the second salon of the series, held in 1906, has been identified. These salons probably lasted only a few years.

Boston International Exhibition of Photography, 1932–1981

Thanks to Horace Latimer's bequest of 1931 the club revived. Accordingly in 1932 the club launched a new international competition, the Boston Salon of Photography, held almost annually for the better part of the next five decades.

In 1953 the salon was renamed the Boston International Exhibition of Photography, although informally it was often still called the Boston Salon. Also that year, the Frank R. Fraprie Memorial Medal was created in recognition of Fraprie's role, along with Horace Latimer, in having kept the club alive in the 1910s and 1920s.

Heretofore entries in Boston Camera Club competitions were limited to black-and-white prints. Starting in 1954 color slides were accepted in the Boston International Exhibition. From 1959 color prints were admitted as well. The 43rd and last exhibition, being color slides only, was held in 1981, the club's centenary year. In discontinuing the annual exhibition, again the club cited lack of manpower. Whereas earlier salons typically received some hundreds of entries each, the 1981 exhibition required a man-year of labor to process over 3,000 submissions.

Noted entrants in the Boston International Exhibition over the years included A. Aubrey Bodine who won the Fraprie medal in 1953, 1955 and 1959; Croatian photographer Tošo Dabac in 1937; Hong Kong-American photography prodigy, actor and director Ho Fan (Fan Ho) (b. 1937) who first entered the exhibition in 1954 at age 17; 1940s pictorialist photographer Rowena Fruth (1896–1983); Wellington Lee who competed 1950–1981; and Mexican cinema director José Lorenzo Zakany Almada who won the Boston Camera Club Medal in 1968. Noted judges included Cecil B. Atwater (1886–1981, club president 1942 to at least 1944), A. Aubrey Bodine (1906–1960), Leonard Craske, Eleanor Parke Custis, John W. Doscher (d. after 1971), Adolf Fassbender, noted etcher Arthur William Heintzleman (1891–1965), Franklin I. Jordan, L. Whitney Standish, John H. Vondell (d. circa 1967), and Henry F. Weisenburger.

Guest exhibitors

From the late 19th to at least the mid-20th century, the Boston Camera Club had exhibitions by prominent outside photographers. About 1890 the club exhibited the work of English photographic pioneer Henry Peach Robinson (1830–1901). In 1896 the Boston Camera Club showed work by Alfred Stieglitz (1864–1946), later founder of the Photo-Secession. Also in 1906, it exhibited 150 photographs by Gertrude Käsebier (1852–1934). In 1899 the club showed work by Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864–1952). The same year it exhibited the work of Clarence White (1871–1925), organized and hung by Fred Holland Day. About this time the club exhibited work by Rudolph Dührkoop (1848–1918). There were other exhibitions by lesser-known photographers.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries U.S. camera clubs mounted exhibitions of each other's work. For example, in 1908 the Boston club exhibited works from the Buffalo (New York), Capitol (Washington DC), and Portland (Maine) Camera Clubs.

In 1940 the Boston Camera Club exhibited the work of Edward Weston (1886–1958). In 1950 it showed work by Paul Gittings, Sr. In 1953 the club exhibited work from 1843–1848 of pioneer Scottish photographers David Octavius Hill (1802–1870) and Robert Adamson (1821–1848) (Hill and Adamson).

Exhibitions after 1931

After the Boston Camera Club's revival in 1931 the club moved temporarily into 330 Newbury Street, Boston. It is unknown whether this space had exhibition facilities. In 1934 the club purchased a permanent facility at 351A Newbury Street, which had a large gallery space. Public exhibitions of outsiders' work during this period were mentioned; members' shows in this period have not been identified. In 1980 the club relinquished 351A Newbury Street. By necessity all member shows since then have been held at outside venues in the Boston area.

Later, the Boston Camera Club had exhibitions at Boston City Hall, 1993; Griffin Museum of Photography, 1997; Boston's Hynes Convention Center, 2004; arts centers; and photographic firms in the Boston area.

Education

In discharging the mandate of its 1887 state charter to promulgate "the knowledge of photography," for most of its existence the Boston Camera Club has sponsored lectures, educational courses, and other programs by expert members and outsiders, some prominent.

In 1890 Boston Camera Club member and camera shutter pioneer Francis Blake, Jr. read to the club an important paper on shutters. In 1895 member Owen A. Eames presented his Eames Animatoscope, an early motion picture device, although one source says, "It is unlikely that projection was attempted." In 1897 Friedrich von Voigtländer, head of the Austrian optical firm of that surname, spoke to the club. In 1904 noted Boston photographer Fred Holland Day presented a paper for which he was well known, "Is Photography a Fine Art?" There were many other lecturers in the club's early years.

Records of guest speakers for much of the 20th century have not been studied. In the 1970s and 1980s the Boston Camera Club had presentations by Marie Cosindas and Minor White. In the 1990s the club sponsored day-long courses by Lou Jones, Frans Lanting, John Sexton, and others.

For decades Boston-area professionals such as staff photographers of The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald, and instructors in Boston's photography colleges, have been regular club presenters and competition judges. Since the latter 1990s the Boston Camera Club has regularly given lectures and field trips on digital photography.

Other activities

About 1888 the Boston Camera Club undertook the Old Boston project, in which it "made a survey of buildings and farms for local archives." The project proved valuable, as many of the buildings photographed no longer exist.

During the 1890s club members pursued stereoscopy. Lantern slides, the forerunner of 20th-century color slides, were popular as well. Then as now, the club has undertaken regular field trips.

In the 1940s the club was active in "entertainment and instruction of disabled veterans of World War II ... sponsor[ing] a camera club at one of the large Army convalescent hospitals nearby." In the 1950s and 1960s the club had a movie group and owned a Bell & Howell movie projector.

Prominent members

Since its inception in 1881, the Boston Camera Club has had members prominent in photography. Because the club was founded before amateur photography was widespread, many early members were advanced practitioners, a handful of whom even made advances in photographic technology. After more consumer-friendly processes were introduced in the late 19th and 20th centuries, new amateurs continued to have photographic achievements of note.

Starting no later than the early 1890s, the Boston Camera Club has awarded honorary life membership for three kinds of accomplishment. It is granted to one of its own members for photographic achievement; a member having given extraordinary service to the club; or a personality, typically in the Boston area, heretofore not a member of the club for photographic achievement.

19th century

Among the original founders of the Boston Society of Amateur Photographers, as the Boston Camera Club was known until 1886, some were noted locally, even nationally. First permanent vice president of the club James F. Babcock (1844–1897) was a well-known Boston chemist and science lecturer who held several U.S. patents. First permanent secretary and treasurer Wilfred A. French, son of daguerreotypist Benjamin French, was a Boston photographer and photo supplier; later editor and publisher of Photo-Era: The American Journal of Photography, one of the leading journals in the field; and a founding member of a group called the National Historic Picture Guild. Club co-founder John H. Thurston, whose business was in the same building as the Boston Camera Club at 50 Bromfield Street, was a Boston photographic supplier as well. Early vice president Charles Henry Currier (1851–1938), also in business at 50 Bromfield, was a Boston jeweler and one of Boston's most well-known commercial photographers.

Prominent early on the Boston Camera Club were Emma J. Fitz, Maine photographic pioneer Emma D. Sewall (1836–1919), and painter Sarah Jane Eddy (1851–1945). Boston-area electric car manufacturer George Edward Cabot (1861–1946), an honorary member, was president of the Boston Camera Club in 1886–1890. Another early honorary member was late-19th century traveling lecturer Antonie Stölle, who in Boston and elsewhere presented innovative color slide-illustrated lectures on art works.

The Boston Camera Club counted two prominent astronomers among its members, Percival Lowell (1855–1916) and honorary member William Henry Pickering (1858–1938), the latter a noted astrophotographer who discovered Saturn's moon Phoebe, worked on faster shutters for nighttime work, and furthered the cause of women in astronomy.

Painter, photographer, Boston arts patron and club member Sarah Choate Sears (1858–1935) was named a Member of the Photo-Secession by Alfred Stieglitz. In 1899 she had a solo exhibition at the club that included a portrait of Julia Ward Howe. The same year she showed at the second Boston Arts and Crafts Exhibition.

Two collaborators of Alexander Graham Bell were honorary members of the club. One was the club's earliest known (1892) honorary member, Mass. Institute of Technology Prof. Charles "Charlie" Robert Cross (1848–1921). The other was inventor and club vice president Francis Blake, Jr. (1850–1913), who is believed to have substantially helped the club financially in its early years. Blake's 1877 microphone was critical to Bell's telephone technology. As a camera shutter pioneer he achieved speeds of 1/2,000 second by 1890.

In 1896 a photographic print by Horace A. Latimer (1860–1931) was shown in an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution. Two photographs by Latimer appeared in Camera Notes, the journal of The Camera Club of New York. Latimer, the wealthy amateur Boston photographer whose 1931 bequest almost single-handedly revived the fortunes of the Boston Camera Club, is perhaps the club's best-remembered early member today.

Noted photographer, publisher, Boston Camera Club member and esthete Fred Holland Day (1864–1933), associated at first with the Photo-Secession, judged at least one exhibition at the Boston Camera Club, in 1906.

20th and 21st centuries

In the early 20th century three members of the Boston Camera Club were well-known photographic authors and publishers. Wilfred A. French was mentioned. Frank Roy Fraprie (1874–1951), one of the best-known photographic publishers in the United States, was a prolific author in the field. Head of American Photographic Publishing Co., he was editor of annuals The American Amateur Photographer and American Annual of Photography. Honorary member Franklin Ingalls "Pop" Jordan (1876–1956) was a photographic author and editor. Another personality, Adolf "Papa" Fassbender (1884–1980), the German-born New York City-based educator called a "one-man photographic institution," launched a career of 72 years that saw him train thousands in photography.

The Boston Camera Club attracted non-photographic visual artists of note practicing photography secondarily. They included Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial sculptor Leonard Craske (KRASK) (1882–1950); honorary member and prolific Cape Ann, Mass. artist, photographer and author Samuel V. Chamberlain (1895–1975), who produced at least 45 photograph-illustrated travel books; and painter Emil Albert Gruppé (1896–1978). Another member was post-Secessionist photographer and watercolorist Eleanor Parke Custis (1897–1983).

Amateur photographer, photographic author and publisher, and honorary club member Arthur Hammond (1880–1962) won top prize from organizers of the 1939 New York World's Fair for his photo of the Fair's Trylon and Perisphere. Architect and amateur photographer, honorary member L. Whitney "Whit" Standish (1919–?, club president 1939–1942) was an influential member of the Boston Camera Club, instrumental in organizing the club's weekly meetings, competitions, educational courses, and newsletter.

One of the most well-known figures in photography in the 20th century was United States Medal of Freedom recipient, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, and Boston Camera Club honorary member Harold E. "Doc" Edgerton (1903–1990), who greatly advanced the photographic strobe, achieving exposure times of one-millionth of a second, and took the well-known Life magazine photographs of a bullet penetrating an apple and an impact crown of milk droplets. Lesser known are his night aerial strobe work for the Allies for the D-Day invasion in World War II, co-founding of defense contractor EG&G, and undersea explorations with Jacques Cousteau.

Honorary member and photojournalist Arthur Griffin (1903–2001) was the best-known photographer of New England scenery in the mid-20th century. H. Bradford Washburn, Jr. (1910–2007), honorary member, was a noted mountaineer, aerial photographer, and founder of the Boston Museum of Science. Aeronautical engineer Henry F. Weisenburger (b. 1924), honorary member and club president (1965–1967), an amateur photographer since the 1940s who joined the club in 1954, is arguably the longest-active living exponent of amateur photography in New England, having instructed many in the field since the 1950s. In 1959, honorary member Leslie A. Campbell was founder of Massachusetts Camera Naturalists.

Honorary member Lou Jones (b. 1945), active professionally since the 1960s, is a Boston-based commercial, Olympic Games and jazz photographer, photojournalist, and educator whose books include Final Exposure: Portraits from Death Row (1996).

Affiliations

Boston Camera Club members Cecil B. Atwater, Eleanor Parke Custis, John W. Doscher, Adolf Fassbender, Rowena Fruth, Barbara Green, Arthur Hammond, Franklin I. Jordan, Charles B. Phelps, Jr. (1891–1949), L. Whitney Standish, John H. Vondell, Edmund A. Woodle (1918–2007), and Richard Yee have been Fellows of the Photographic Society of America (FPSA). Frank R. Fraprie and Allen G. Stimson (d. 1996) were Honorary Fellows. Atwater, Doscher, Fassbender, Green, Hammond, Jordan, and Yee have been Fellows of the Royal Photographic Society (FRPS) of Great Britain, and Fraprie Honorary Fellow. Roydon (Roy) Burke (1901–1993) was, and Henry F. Weisenburger is, a Master Member of the New England Camera Club Council (NECCC). Professional photographers Arthur Griffin and Lou Jones have belonged to the American Society of Media Photographers (Griffin charter member, Jones board of directors).

Holdings of members' work

The U.S. Library of Congress has major holdings of the work of at least two Boston Camera Club members. Photographs of Middle Class Life in Boston, 1890s–1910s is a collection of 523 photographs made by Charles Henry Currier. The Library also holds the largest number of photographs of Fred Holland Day.

There are substantial institutional holdings of the photographs of Francis Blake, Jr.; Eleanor Parke Custis; Harold E. Edgerton; Adolf Fassbender; Arthur Griffin, by his Griffin Museum of Photography; Emil Albert Gruppé; Sarah Choate Sears, by Harvard University; L. Whitney Standish; H. Bradford Washburn; and others.

Today

As it has for most of its existence, the Boston Camera Club meets weekly. Meetings are held at 1773 Beacon Street, Brookline, Mass. every Tuesday evening from September to June. Guests are welcome.

The club's primary emphasis is on digital photography. Activities range from beginners to advanced and comprise education, print competitions and critique, a live-model portrait studio, field trips, and inter-club competitions. Outside speakers and competition judges are regularly invited.

The club communicates through its website and newsletter, The Reflector, launched in 1938 and published electronically.

The Boston Camera Club, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational corporation registered in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a member of the New England Camera Club Council (NECCC) and Photographic Society of America (PSA).

Boston Camera Club publications and records

Boston Camera Club. Records. v. 1, 1881–1896. v. 2, 1897–1929, two paginations. v. 3, 1929–1942 (etc.) Boston Athenaeum. Boston MA.

Boston Camera Club. Notice of First Meeting. February 3, 1887.

Commonwealth of Mass. Religious, etc. Corporations / Certificate of Organization under Mass. Public Statutes, ch. 115, sec. 4, etc. February 25, 1887.

Third Annual Joint Exhibition of Photographs. Soc. of Amateur Photographers of New York, Photographic Soc. of Philadelphia, Boston Camera Club. 1889.

Catalogue of Exhibits at the Fifth Annual Joint Exhibition of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, Society of Amateur Photographers of New York and the Boston Camera Club at the Boston Camera Club, May 2 to May 7, 1892.

Boston Camera Club. Catalogue: Photographs: Boston Camera-Club, by the Courtesy of the Boston Art Club at Their Galleries. Circa 1892. (Fifth annual exhibition of Photographic Soc. of Philadelphia, Soc. of Amateur Photographers of New York, and BCC.) Harvard Univ. Fine Arts Library.

Sixth Annual Exhibition. Photographic Soc. of Philadelphia, Soc. of Amateur Photographers of New York, Boston Camera Club, Penn. Acad. of the Fine Arts. 1893.

Catalogue of the Seventh Annual Competitive Exhibition by Members of the Boston Camera Club: At Their Club-rooms, 50 Bromfield Street, Boston, April, 1895.

Boston Camera Club. Constitution, By-Laws and Rules. 1896.

Boston Camera Club. Exhibition catalog and booklet. 1900.

The Year Book. 1900. (Officers, members, club rules, diagram of club rooms.) Smithsonian Institution. Archives of American Art. Microfilm reel 4858, frames 517–525.

Catalogue of the Third (First International) Salon. Boston Art Club; Boston Camera Club. 1934.

Boston Camera Club. The Reflector (newsletter). Various issues (club collection incomplete). 1st issue v. 1. February 1938.

Boston Salon of Photography (from 1953 on called Boston International Exhibition of Photography). Various catalogs (incomplete). 12th Salon 1943 through 43rd Exhibition 1981. Collection Boston Camera Club.