Preserving and Accessing the Howard D. Beach Photography Studio Glass Plate Negative Collection

Abstract

In 2011, the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society (now The Buffalo History Museum), acquired a significant but environmentally challenged collection of dry gelatin glass-plate negatives from the former Howard D. Beach Photography Studio, located in downtown Buffalo, NY. Numbering over 57,000 individual plates of varying sizes, the collection comes from the last extant commercial portrait studio that operated during Buffalo's golden era (1880–1950). In a career that spanned nearly 70 years, Beach held an international reputation as a portrait artist and made significant contributions to the field of photography, including the invention of soft-focus portrait lenses that are still in use today. Yet, his work remains relatively unknown. The glass plates were stored in less than ideal conditions for nearly eighty years. The cost and time involved for staffing, cleaning, re-housing, and storing a collection of this size poses a significant challenge to a museum with limited personnel and resources, yet wishing to preserve and present an extensive though significant historical collection relevant to the community and to the institution's mission. Presented is a brief history of the studio, and current efforts to salvage this collection. It outlines strategies for preservation and highlights the advantages of collaboration with an institution of higher education in this effort.