The Boston Camera Club is the leading amateur photographic organization in Boston, Massachusetts and immediate vicinity. Founded in 1881, it offers activities of interest to amateur photographers, particularly digital photography. It meets weekly and is open to the public.
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History
Photography was introduced in 1839. For some decades, practice was limited largely to professionals because it involved laborious wet-plate processes. Amateur photography in the United States received major impetus in 1880, when the future Eastman Kodak Co., and others, introduced dry plates--glass plates with chemical emulsion already applied. In 1888 Kodak introduced the first flexible roll photographic medium--first paper and soon film--and third-party processing. These innovations brought photography to the masses. Still, photography practiced in camera cubs (and among professionals as well) typically used glass plates until the early 20th century, when film was finally accepted. During the chemistry-based era, third-party processing and printing were typically prohibited in camera clubs, except later in the 20th century for color photographs.
Boston Society of Amateur Photographers, 1881
The club known today as the Boston Camera Club was founded October 7, 1881 in Boston, Massachusetts as the Boston Society of Amateur Photographers. It is the second-oldest camera club, and perhaps photographic organization of any kind, continuously extant in the United States founded at least in part by amateurs.
The club was founded by F. H. Blair, James M. Codman, W. C. Greenough, A. P. Howard, Lucius L. Hubbard, Frederick Ober, and John H. Thurston, with Thurston having the most influential role. At first temporary officers were elected. The seven men were joined on November 18, 1881 by James F. Babcock, William T. Brigham, Wilfred A. French, and William A. Hovey, at which time permanent officers were elected--Brigham president, Babcock vice president, and French secretary and treasurer. At first the club met in the offices of the Boston Sunday Budget. Later it met at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at the time located in Boston.
Boston Camera Club, 1886
As amateur photography in the United States became more widespread, in 1886 the club changed its name to Boston Camera Club. On April 6, 1887 it incorporated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under the new name, stating as its purpose the furthering of "the knowledge of photography in all its branches and the promotion of social intercourse among the amateur photographers of Boston and vicinity."
50 Bromfield Street, 1886-1924
In 1886 the Boston Camera Club rented permanent headquarters at 50 Bromfield Street, Boston. It may have been selected by being the place of business of both club founder John H. Thurston and early vice president Charles Henry Currier. The club had eight rooms:
At 50 Bromfield the club held public exhibitions of photography featuring works by its members and guest photographers.
Early 20th-century difficulties
For reasons begging further research, in 1913 difficulties arose. Minutes of that year by longtime club secretary John H. Thurston show membership in the club had fallen off, and the club's future was under discussion. Thenceforth business, but apparently far fewer regular, meetings were held. The club was kept alive, at least administratively, by Frank Roy Fraprie (FRAY-pree), Phineas Hubbard (president 1908-1913 and possibly longer), Horace A. Latimer, and the aging Thurston. The club, it is believed in 1924, left its longstanding 50 Bromfield Street location, and for some years it met at the Boston Young Men's Christian Union (YMCU). Amateur photography in Boston now seems to have been dominated by the Boston YMCU Camera Club (a different entity than Boston Camera Club's meetings at YMCU), extant from 1908 to at least the 1920s; Boston Photo-Clan, extant by 1912 but apparently defunct by about 1921, dominated by Boston professional photographer John H. Garo at whose studio it met; and the Boston Arts and Crafts Society.
Horace A. Latimer bequest, 1931
In 1931 a bequest by longtime club member Horace A. Latimer (1860-1931) of Boston, an independently wealthy amateur photographer of some renown, for reasons not fully understood as well, profoundly reinvigorated the Boston Camera Club. Membership rebounded, for example reaching 286 in 1946. With the funds the club would purchase new headquarters. First, however, it moved to 330 Newbury Street, in the Back Bay section of Boston.
351A Newbury Street, 1934-1980
In 1934, with part of Horace Latimer's bequest the Boston Camera Club purchased a building at nearby 351A Newbury Street, Back Bay. The club occupied three floors. There were a large and small exhibition gallery, darkroom, library and kitchen. Public exhibitions of photography resumed. For tax purposes, in 1946 the club decided to sell no. 351A and remain in the building as a lessee. Growth continued apace, reaching 555 in 1959--492 regular, 51 associate and 4 honorary members--a level maintained for some two decades. Besides post-war prosperity, the growth is attributable to introduction of 35mm film by Kodak in the 1930s, and single lens reflex (SLR) 35mm cameras by Nikon, Pentax and others in the 1960s, for which enthusiasts often sought instruction by joining a camera club.
Brookline, Massachusetts, 1980-present
In 1980 the 351A Newbury Street building was sold and the Boston Camera Club moved from Boston to the adjacent town of Brookline, Mass. In 1997 it moved across town to its current location in Brookline.
In the 1980s and 1990s membership again declined dramatically, a trend attributable to a number of factors including camera automation, for example autofocus and programmed exposure reducing the need for user instruction; the advent of consumer video; and changing social habits. Since 2000 membership has increased again to about 150 today, due in large part to the club's emphasis on digital photography.
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Exhibitions
The exhibition history of the Boston Camera Club is long and somewhat complex. The club has hosted several species of shows: exhibitions by its members, joint shows with other camera clubs, exhibitions by outside photographers and camera clubs, and salons--judged competitive exhibitions of photography open to the international public.
Member exhibitions, 1880s-1910
About 1883 the Boston Society of Amateur Photographers, as the club was first known, held its first exhibition at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an unusually large show of some 700 photographic prints. The third exhibition in 1885 included male nudes, raising eyebrows in conservative Boston. In 1892 the club exhibited in the long-running triennial exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. In the club's seventh and tenth member exhibitions, in 1895 and 1898, member Emma D. Sewall received the top award. In the 1898 show Sarah Jane Eddy, and painter and Photo-Secession member Sarah Choate Sears, was prominent. In 1900 the Boston Camera Club held an exhibition by member Fred Holland Day. In 1904 it exhibited its members' work at Day's studio in Boston. The same year the club helped organize, and exhibited in, a photograph exhibition at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the St. Louis World's Fair. The club's annual show of 1910, which photographic journal Photo-Era called the club's "best for many years," had prints by Eddy, Frank R. Fraprie, Horace A. Latimer, and Joseph Prince Loud. The 1910 exhibition is the last known to be held by the club until 1932, when it launched the Boston Salon.
Joint Exhibitions of Photography, 1887-1894
During this period, the Joint Exhibitions of Photography were held, sponsored jointly by the Boston Camera Club, Photographic Society of Philadelphia, and Society of Amateur Photographers of New York. The venue rotated annually among the three cities. The Boston club participated in the first seven exhibitions, from 1887 to 1894. At first all three clubs shared in the preparation for each show. In the first Joint Exhibition, held in New York City in 1887, Joseph Prince Loud and Horace A. Latimer received the Boston club's only diplomas. In the third Joint Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1889, Boston was represented by Wilfred A. French; Horace Latimer, the club's only award winner; and William Garrison Reed. Starting with the fourth Joint Exhibition in New York City in 1891, collaborative preparation ended and each club individually ran the exhibition in the city in which it was held. In the 1891 exhibition Latimer exhibited the most prints from the Boston club. The fifth Joint Exhibition, held at the Boston Art Club in 1892, included 18 prints by Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) and 45 prints by Boston Camera Club member and Bell telephone pioneer Francis Blake, Jr. (1850-1913). Of the sixth Joint Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1893, Stieglitz said, "It was, without doubt, the finest exhibition of photographs ever held in the United States, and probably was but once excelled in any country." After the seventh exhibition in 1894, the Boston Camera Club withdrew from the Joint Exhibitions, citing lack of manpower.
Salon (1900s); Boston Salon (International Exhibition) of Photography, 1932-1981
The Boston Camera Club had two series of photography salons, or competitive exhibitions. The first series was held in the first decade of the 20th century, probably for only a few years. Presently only the second salon, held in 1906, has been identified.
As part of its revival by Horace Latimer's 1931 bequest, in 1932 the club launched a new international competition, the Boston Salon of Photography, held almost annually for the better part of the next five decades. In 1953 it was renamed the Boston International Exhibition of Photography, although informally often still called the Boston Salon. In 1953 as well, the Frank R. Fraprie Memorial Medal was created in recognition of Fraprie's role, along with Horace Latimer, in having kept the club alive in the problem years of 1913-1930.
Heretofore Boston Camera Club competitions were limited to black-and-white prints. Starting in 1954 color slides were accepted in the Boston International Exhibition. From 1959 color prints were admitted. The 43rd and last exhibition was held in 1981, the club's centenary year. In discontinuing the international exhibitions, again the club cited lack of manpower. Whereas earlier salons typically received hundreds of entries each, the 1981 exhibition required a man-year of labor to process a total of almost 3,300 prints and slides.
Noted entrants in the Boston Salon and International Exhibition over the years included A. Aubrey Bodine (1906-1960), who began competing by 1944 and won the Fraprie medal in 1953, 1955 and 1959; Eleanor Parke Custis who was competing by the 9th Salon in 1940; Croatian photographer To?o Dabac, the 1937 medal winner; Hong Kong-American photography prodigy, actor and director Ho Fan (Fan Ho) (b. 1937) who first competed in 1954 at age 17; 1940s pictorialist Rowena Fruth (1896-1983), competing by 1944; lifelong amateur photographer, future United States Senator and Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater (1909-1998) who submitted a print in 1940; Wellington Lee who competed 1950-1981; and Mexican cinema director José Lorenzo Zakany Almada who won the Boston Camera Club Medal in 1968. Exhibition judges included Cecil B. Atwater (1886-1981); Bodine; Leonard Craske; Custis; John W. Doscher (d. after 1971); Adolf Fassbender; etcher Arthur William Heintzelman (1891-1965), first keeper of prints at Boston Public Library; Franklin I. Jordan; L. Whitney Standish; John H. Vondell (d. circa 1967); and Henry F. Weisenburger.
Guest exhibitors
From the late 19th to at least the mid-20th century, the Boston Camera Club had exhibitions by prominent outside photographers. About 1890 it exhibited the work of English photographic pioneer Henry Peach Robinson (1830-1901). In 1896 the club showed work by Alfred Stieglitz, later founder of the Photo-Secession. Also in 1906, it exhibited 150 photographs by Gertrude Käsebier (1852-1934). In 1899 the club showed work by Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952). That year it also exhibited the work of Clarence White (1871-1925), organized and hung by Fred Holland Day. About this time the club exhibited work by Rudolph Dührkoop (1848-1918). There were other exhibitions by lesser-known photographers.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries U.S. camera clubs mounted exhibitions of each other's work. For example, in 1908 the Boston club exhibited works from the Buffalo (New York), Capitol (Washington DC), and Portland (Maine) Camera Clubs.
In 1940 the Boston Camera Club exhibited the work of Edward Weston (1886-1958). In 1950 it showed work by Paul Gittings, Sr. In 1953 it exhibited photographs from 1843-1848 of Scottish pioneers David Octavius Hill (1802-1870) and Robert Adamson (1821-1848) (Hill and Adamson).
Later exhibitions
After the Boston Camera Club's revival in 1931 it moved temporarily to 330 Newbury Street, Boston. It is unknown whether this space had an exhibition room. The club's permanent facility at 351A Newbury Street, purchased in 1934, had a large gallery. Public exhibitions of outsiders' work in this period were mentioned; member shows have not been identified. Since 1980 when the club left no. 351A, it has had no gallery space, all member shows being held at other venues in the Boston area. The Boston Camera Club has had exhibitions at Boston City Hall in 1993, Griffin Museum of Photography, 1997, Boston's Hynes Convention Center, 2004, art and photo studios, and camera stores in the Boston area.
Education
In discharging the mandate of its 1887 state charter to promulgate "the knowledge of photography," for most of its existence the Boston Camera Club has sponsored lectures, courses and programs by expert members and guests. In 1890 member Francis Blake, Jr. read to the club an important paper on camera shutters, in which he did pioneering work. In 1895 member Owen A. Eames presented his Eames Animatoscope, an early motion picture device (although one source said: "It is unlikely that projection was attempted.") In 1897 Friedrich von Voigtländer, head of the Austrian optical firm of that surname, spoke to the club. In 1904 Fred Holland Day presented a paper for which he was well known, "Is Photography a Fine Art?" There were many other lecturers in the club's early years.
Records identifying guest speakers for much of the 20th century have not been studied. In the 1970s and 1980s the Boston Camera Club had presentations by Marie Cosindas and Minor White. In the 1990s it sponsored day-long courses by Lou Jones, Frans Lanting, John Sexton, and others. Boston-area professionals such as staff photographers of The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald, and instructors in Boston's photography colleges, have long been regular club presenters and competition judges. Since the latter 1990s the Boston Camera Club regularly has lectures and field trips in digital photography.
Other activities
About 1888 a group of photographers, possibly members of the Boston Camera Club including William Garrison Reed, undertook the Old Boston project, a "survey of buildings and farms for local archives," whose photographs, owned by the Boston Public Library, were rediscovered in 2007.
During the 1890s members of the club pursued stereoscopy. Lantern slides, the forerunner of 20th-century color slides, were popular as well. In the 1940s the club undertook "entertainment and instruction of disabled veterans of World War II ... sponsor[ing] a camera club at one of the large Army convalescent hospitals nearby." In the 1950s and 1960s the club had a movie group and owned a Bell & Howell movie projector.
Prominent members
Because the club was founded before amateur photography was widespread, many early members were more advanced practitioners, a handful even making modest advances in photo technology. Even after more consumer-friendly processes came online in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some club members continued to attract notice. Starting no later than the early 1890s, the Boston Camera Club has awarded honorary life membership on two classes of deserving individuals: its own members having given extraordinary service to the club, and outside personalities in the Boston area for signal photographic achievement.
19th century
Among the founders of the Boston Society of Amateur Photographers, as the Boston Camera Club was known until 1886, some were noted locally, even nationally. First permanent vice president of the club James F. Babcock (1844-1897) was a well-known Boston chemist and science lecturer who held several U.S. patents. First permanent secretary and treasurer Wilfred A. French, son of daguerreotypist Benjamin French, was a Boston photographer and photo supplier, later editor and publisher of Photo-Era: The American Journal of Photography, one of the leading journals in the field, and a founding member of a group called the National Historic Picture Guild. Club co-founder John H. Thurston, whose business was in the same building as the club at 50 Bromfield Street, was a Boston photographic supplier as well. Early vice president Charles Henry Currier (1851-1938) was a Boston jeweler and commercial photographer also based at 50 Bromfield.
Prominent in the early club were Emma J. Fitz, Maine photographic pioneer Emma D. Sewall (1836-1919), and painter Sarah Jane Eddy (1851-1945). Boston-area electric car manufacturer George Edward Cabot (1861-1946), an honorary member, was president of the club in 1886-1890. Another early honorary member was late-19th century traveling lecturer Antonie Stölle, who presented innovative color slide-illustrated lectures on artworks.
The Boston Camera Club counted two astronomers among its members, Percival Lowell (1855-1916) and honorary member William Henry Pickering (1858-1938), the latter an astrophotographer who discovered Saturn's moon Phoebe, worked on faster shutters for nighttime work, and furthered the cause of women in astronomy.
Painter, photographer, Boston arts patron and club member Sarah Choate Sears (1858-1935) was named a Member of the Photo-Secession by Alfred Stieglitz. In 1899 she had a solo exhibition at the club that included a portrait of Julia Ward Howe. The same year she showed in the second Boston Arts and Crafts Exhibition.
Two collaborators of Alexander Graham Bell were honorary members of the Boston Camera Club. One is the club's earliest (1892) known honorary member, Prof. Charles "Charlie" Robert Cross (1848-1921), believed to have taught the first electrical engineering course in the United States, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1882-1883. The other was inventor and club vice president Francis Blake, Jr. (1850-1913), believed to have substantially helped the club financially in its early years. Blake's 1877 microphone was critical to Bell's telephone technology; as a camera shutter pioneer he achieved speeds of 1/2,000 second by 1890.
In 1896 a photographic print by Horace A. Latimer was shown in an exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution. Latimer is the only known Boston Camera Club member published in Camera Notes, the official publication of The Camera Club of New York, of which he was a member as well. The wealthy amateur Boston photographer whose 1931 bequest revived the fortunes of the Boston Camera Club, Latimer is the club's best-remembered early member today. Among his interests were yachting photography and international travel photography.
Boston photographer, publisher, esthete and Boston Camera Club member Fred Holland Day (1864-1933), associated for awhile with the Photo-Secession, judged at least one exhibition at the Boston Camera Club, in 1906.
20th and 21st centuries
In the early 20th century three members of the Boston Camera Club were well-known photographic authors and publishers. Wilfred A. French was mentioned. The prolific Frank Roy Fraprie (1874-1951) was head of American Photographic Publishing Co. and editor of annuals The American Amateur Photographer and American Annual of Photography. Honorary member Franklin Ingalls "Pop" Jordan (1876-1956) was a photographic author and editor. Another personality, Adolf "Papa" Fassbender (1884-1980), the German-born New York City-based educator called a "one-man photographic institution," had a career of 72 years training thousands in photography. Another noted photographer was Lillian Baynes Griffin, an associate, or corresponding, member of the club, who joined in 1906.
The Boston Camera Club had members who were non-photographic artists of note practicing photography secondarily. They included Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial sculptor Leonard Craske (KRASK) (1882-1950); honorary member and prolific Cape Ann, Massachusetts artist, photographer and author Samuel V. Chamberlain (1895-1975) who wrote at least 45 photograph-illustrated travel books; painter Emil Albert Gruppé (1896-1978); and post-Secessionist photographer and watercolorist Eleanor Parke Custis (1897-1983).
Amateur photographer, photographic author and publisher, and honorary club member Arthur Hammond (1880-1962) won top prize from organizers of the 1939 New York World's Fair for his photo of the Fair's Trylon and Perisphere. Architect, amateur photographer, author and honorary member L. Whitney "Whit" Standish (1919-?) was an influential member of the club who helped organize its weekly meetings, competitions, educational courses, and newsletter.
One of the most well-known figures in 20th century photography, U.S. National Medal of Science (1973) recipient, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, and Boston Camera Club honorary member Harold Eugene "Doc" Edgerton (1903-1990), greatly advanced the photographic strobe, achieving exposure times of one-millionth of a second, and took the well-known Life magazine photographs of a bullet penetrating an apple and an impact crown of milk droplets. Lesser known are his night aerial strobe work for the Allied D-Day invasion in World War II, co-founding defense contractor EG&G, and undersea explorations with Jacques Cousteau.
At least five persons named Boston Camera Club honorary members in the 1970s-2000s had achievements of note. H. Bradford Washburn, Jr. (1910-2007) was a mountaineer, cartographer, aerial photographer, and longtime first director of the Boston Museum of Science. Photojournalist Arthur Leo Griffin (1903-2001) was the best-known photographer of New England scenery in the mid-20th century. Aeronautical engineer Henry F. Weisenburger (b. 1924), who has practiced photography since the 1940s and who joined the club in 1954, is arguably the longest-active living exponent of amateur photography in New England, having instructed many in the field. In 1959 Leslie A. Campbell was founder of Massachusetts Camera Naturalists. Lou Jones (b. 1945) is a Boston-based commercial, Olympic Games and jazz photographer; photojournalist whose books include Final Exposure: Portraits from Death Row (1996); and photography educator.
Outside honors and affiliations
Boston Camera Club members have been honored by outside organizations. Telephone pioneer Francis Blake, Jr. (1881), astronomers William Henry Pickering (1883) and Percival Lowell (1892), and strobe pioneer Harold Eugene Edgerton (1956) were named Fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Cecil B. Atwater, Eleanor Parke Custis, John W. Doscher, Adolf Fassbender, Rowena Fruth, Barbara Green, Arthur Hammond, Franklin I. Jordan, Charles B. Phelps, Jr. (1891-1949), L. Whitney Standish, John H. Vondell, Edmund A. Woodle (1918-2007), and Richard Yee have been Fellows of the Photographic Society of America (FPSA). Frank R. Fraprie and Allen G. Stimson (d. 1996) were Honorary Fellows (HonPSA). Many more club members have been Associates (APSA). Atwater, Doscher, Fassbender, Green, Hammond, Jordan, and Yee have been Fellows of the Royal Photographic Society (FRPS) of Great Britain, Fraprie Honorary Fellow. Roydon (Roy) Burke (1901-1993) was, and Henry F. Weisenburger is, a Master Member of the New England Camera Club Council (MNEC). Professional photographers Arthur Griffin and Lou Jones have belonged to the American Society of Media Photographers (Griffin charter member, Jones board of directors).
Holdings of members' work
The U.S. Library of Congress has major holdings of the work of at least two Boston Camera Club members. Photographs of Middle Class Life in Boston, 1890s-1910s is a collection of 523 photographs by Charles Henry Currier. The Library also holds the largest number of photographs of Fred Holland Day. There are substantial institutional holdings of the photographs of Francis Blake, Jr.; Eleanor Parke Custis; Harold E. Edgerton; Adolf Fassbender; Arthur Griffin by his Griffin Museum of Photography; Emil Albert Gruppé; Sarah Choate Sears by Harvard University; L. Whitney Standish; H. Bradford Washburn; Henry F. Weisenburger by University of Florida, Gainesville; and others.
Today
As it has for most of its existence, the Boston Camera Club meets weekly. Meetings are held at 1773 Beacon Street, Brookline, Massachusetts every Tuesday evening from September to June. Guests are welcome.
The club's primary emphasis is on digital photography. Activities range from beginner to advanced and comprise education, print competitions and critique, a live-model portrait studio, field trips, and inter-club competitions. Outside speakers and competition judges are regularly invited. The club communicates through its website and newsletter, The Reflector, launched in 1938 and now published electronically.
The Boston Camera Club, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational corporation registered in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a member of New England Camera Club Council (NECCC) and Photographic Society of America (PSA).
Early records of the Boston Camera Club, from 1881 to 1942, are held by the Boston Athenaeum and are available to researchers by appointment.
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