Some of the glass negatives in The Capewell Glass Negative Collection have contained enough information that the time and place could be ascertained. Others, like the one above, are anybody’s guess.
The photographer John B. Capewell was from Westville, New Jersey which is just across the Delaware River from the city of Philadelphia, but I doubt if this shot was taken in South Jersey. Capewell travelled, and this was probably taken on one of his trips. It looks as if there is a barbwire fence in the bottom half of the photo. It was probably shot from a roadside.
The Glass Negative as shot atop a lightbox.
About The Capewell Glass Negative Collection
The Capewell Glass Negative collection is a series of about 200 5-inch by 7-inch glass negatives shot early in the 20th Century by John Batt Capewell (1878-1951) of Westville, New Jersey. John passed the negatives down to his son Henry who left them in his wife’s possession upon his passing. Henry’s widow didn’t know what to do with them and didn’t particularly want them so she offered them to my Dad who couldn’t turn down anything. Ultimately I wound up with them and thought I would one day have photographic prints struck from them. That didn’t happen, but I came up with the digital workaround of placing the negatives on a lightbox and rephotographing them with a digital camera. The “processing” was then done on a computer with image editing software. Many of these pictures have not been seen in a century, and I’m proud to be presenting them today.
At first, I did not know who the people were in the photographs. I have a box of ephemera that accompanied the negatives and snagged a few clues from that as far as the Capewell name. I did some research on the internet and had a few false starts and wrong turns, but the readers of these posts have provided a remarkable amount of research and detail. I’m amazed at what people have turned up sifting through public records and such!
This story continues to evolve. Every Thursday, I will post a Capewell picture or two. If you recognize a person or place in one of the shots or just want to drop a line, feel free to comment!
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