Northampton 1900: Looking Backward to the Turn of the Century

From Historic Northampton's large collection of Howes brothers photographs, photographer Stan Sherer selected eighteen images that show various aspects of life in Northampton one hundred years ago. They are the focal point of a new exhibit in Historic Northampton's new museum facility. With their often simple and straightforward composition, these images portray the dignity and character of their subjects. the 5 x 7 glass plate negatives are impressive not only in their size, but quality. They are richly detailed and remarkably sharp.

In light of today's technological developments in photography and digital imaging, the presentation of these images called for careful consideration. Sherer decided to blend traditional and new technologies of photographic printmaking. To accomplish this, he digitized the original glass plates by scanning them into the computer. Once digitized, he was able to restore some of the missing information and make repairs due to deterioration over time. But in order to convey the feeling as well as the form of a previous era he printed the images on watercolor paper with an inkjet printer. The process is referred to as quadtone printing - four archival ink colors are employed: three shades of gray and black.

Original archival inkjet prints of the images from this exhibition are available through Historic Northampton. A limited inkjet print catalog of the exhibition is also available.

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