I always love looking at Verne Morton's pictures of local life, and really need to get this book one of these days. This should be a great evening, and I'm also delighted to see the Groton / Dryden cooperation.
Verne Morton: The Photographer Who Made the Commonplace Compelling
During the late 1800s and early 1900s almost every community had a photographer documenting the life and history of their town whose work may now be sitting forgotten in someone's barn or attic. Early photographs were produced from fragile glass plate negatives and unstable nitrate negatives which put their continued viability at risk without proper care. Fortunately for us, this was not the case with the work of Verne Morton a photographer from Groton whose photographs captured daily life in another century and will be the featured subject of a Dryden Town Historical Society program.
Guest speakers, Rosemarie Tucker (Groton Town Historian) and April Scheffler (Groton Town Clerk) have made it their mission to not only share the extraordinary photographs of one of Groton's native sons but also to advocate for how important it is to locate these photos, to share and enjoy them, and in doing so, preserve a pictorial history for future generations.
Join us on Wednesday, November 28th, at 7 pm in the Dryden Village Hall (corner of George and South Streets) to learn more about this talented man and his amazing legacy. As always, this program is free and open to all with donations gratefully accepted.
In 2010, a collection of photographs were compiled into a book by the Dryden Mutual Insurance Company in celebration of the company's 150th anniversary (Great Possibilities: 150 Verne Morton Photographs) which will be available for purchase.
Update: Here's a link to a lot of his photos, with options for buying prints.
Posted by simon at November 20, 2012 7:02 PM in
There are two copies at town hall.Want to borrow one?
You can also see some by going here
http://www.newyorkheritage.org/cdm4/multi_search.php
Selecting the History Center of Tompkins County Verne Morton. For some reason the browse collection was not working for me, but if you just search a space " " you can see several dozen shots including this one http://nyheritage.nnyln.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/p15085coll5&CISOPTR=17 of my sleeping grandfather. Taken up near Niles NY my grandfather would tame doves, it took lots of patience and time and sometimes he would fall asleep in the process. Apparently Verne came by took this picture and went on his way. A few months later he stopped in told him about the photo and gave a copy to him (which we still have).