NEWTOWN HISTORICAL SOCIETY TAKES A SNAPSHOT

The year of 1839 was a momentous one in the history of historical documentation, for that was the year that photography was invented. Though the first process was quite cumbersome, the new invention eventually revolutionized not only historical documentation, but our social connections as well. The Newtown Historical Society will examine the first 100 years of photography in a presentation by Bob Berthelson, on April 12, at 7.30PM, in the community room of the Booth Library, 25 Main Street (route 25).

The earliest photography was cumbersome, requiring extensive equipment and long exposures, but the technique rapidly developed to permit smaller and less cumbersome equipment, and the invention of the negative made duplicate prints possible. With the invention of the roll film Kodak camera by George Eastman, the process became open to everyone, and the “snapshot” became nearly ubiquitous; in one sense, we have now returned to earlier days with our digital photos stored in computers and never printed to be shared!