Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Mark Frost, Chronicle Editor
There are so many interesting storylines about the exhibit on view now through June 30 at the Folklife Center in the basement of Crandall Public Library.
It’s called “Life Through Bloomer’s Lens: Portraits from the Richard M. Bloomer Glass Plate Negative Collection.”
One storyline is the somewhat miraculous way that Richard M. Bloomer has been rescued from oblivion.
He operated a portrait photo studio on Main Street in Hudson Falls from 1905 to 1931, first at 138 Main Street (1905-1912), then at 158 Main (1912-1931).
Business was apparently good.
Bloomer generated thousands of 5 x 7 glass plate negatives, but they all could easily, likely, have disappeared forever.
Fortunately, at some point, a dealer from Maine came through the region and acquired much of Bloomer’s life’s work.
Also fortunately, the time came when whoever owned it subsequently was determined to sell the artifacts and approached the Chapman Historical Museum in Glens Falls looking to elicit local interest. Tim Weidner, who until Dec. 31, was the Chapman’s long-time executive director, referred the prospective seller to Crandall Public Library.
Voila! Money was found. A deal with the Library’s Folklife Center was done.
Here comes another great storyline.
Kevin Rogan was the young Crandall Library staffer put in charge of exploring, cataloguing and making use of these 5,000 glass plate negatives — a herculean task that could only be done well by someone genuinely excited at the content and the challenge.
Kevin, whom I’d never met until now, is that person. He puts his heart and soul into this project; it makes all the difference in the world.
For the past year, Kevin has worked his way through the first 1,000 glass plate negatives. He’s only got 4,000 more to go.
The task requires pulling each 5 x 7 inch glass negative out of its sleeve, scanning it into a computer, adjusting and printing each image to make it visible and accessible to the public.
Kevin introduced himself to me via e-mail, writing, “I know you were good friends with Nickie Piscitelli, so I thought you might be interested in my new exhibit here at the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library…
“[T]he photograph I have been using to promote the exhibit was labeled, ‘The Battiste Family,’ and it features a mother and father proudly holding an adorable baby up between them. Recent comments on the Library’s Facebook page identify that baby as your old friend Nickie!”
It’s the photo featured on the front page of this edition of The Chronicle. Kevin caught my attention totally, immediately.
Nickie Piscitelli, who died in 2013 at the age of 91, was my friend for life as she was of so many others. She operated Mike’s Grocery on Maple Street in Hudson Falls literally until the day she died.
She was famous for making May baskets and serving up penny candy to countless kids, fortunately including mine.
Beyond a personal connection, though, what Kevin recognized and celebrates is that Bloomer’s photos get at the essence of people. He portrays them handsomely, expressing their self-respect and pride.
“The photographs,” writes Kevin, “illustrate Bloomer’s ability to capture the dignity and humanity of his subjects. Viewed through Bloomer’s lens, ‘ordinary’ people rightfully appear as noble figures, the unsung heroes of the workaday world. In these faces from a century ago, we see traces of our own friends and loved ones; we come to recognize that joy and sorrow are timeless, universal.”
Where possible, the exhibit identifies who the people are in a photo, and Kevin in some instances has found newspaper clippings that are mounted next to photos, providing us added, valued, detail.
Some photos have no identifying information at all. I look at them and hope someone will recognize an ancestor or a familiar face and enable the library to fill in the blank — forever.
Finally, for me, there is a purely personal hope. My father grew up in Hudson Falls, where his immigrant parents settled and operated Frost Department Store. They were there when Bloomer was doing his portraits. Might the family have posed for Bloomer? Might the photo emerge among the thousands of glass plate negatives Kevin is working through?
For me that would be like winning the lottery. But the Bloomer show, as assembled by Kevin, hits the jackpot already.
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