Deeds/Glasscock 8″ x 10″ Glass Plate Negatives

Presented by Terry Hughes and Jon Carl at Willard Library’s Browning Gallery on October 23, 2023 at 6:00 PM.

Detail from a glass plate negative
Detail from a glass plate negative

William E. Deeds was a photographer for the Evansville Journal in the early years of the 1900s. He used an older (to current viewers) box camera that recorded images on an 8″x10″ glass plate. Eventually, many of the glass plates ended up in the hands of Robert Glasscock who published many of them in his book Pictorial History of Evansville, Indiana. Glasscock maintained possession of the plates until his death. Upon his death, Glasscock’s family donated Glasscock’s collection to the archives of Willard Library. Terry Hughes volunteered to scan the plates into digital format. He did so under the guidance of then Willard Archivist Pat Sides.

A unique characteristic of the glass plate negatives is their incredible detail. The clock to the left is a detail from a much larger image. Both Terry Hughes and Jon Carl use digital photographs in presentations and productions they do.

The presentation on October 23rd will highlight many of the photographs in the Deeds/Glasscock collection. The presentation is free and open to the public at 6:00 PM in the Browning Gallery of Willard Library.

Jon Carl and Terry Hughes are co-creators of the Feel the History Class at FJ Reitz High School, a class Carl teaches to this date. Hughes retired from the local school corporation in 2011.