From the photo vault

Today I spent some time rooting around among some of the newspaper's photographic archives. We have photos going back more than a century. It's a treasure trove of fascinating historical eye candy, but unfortunately this stuff hasn't enjoyed the attentions of a thoughtful archivist. It seems the system for organizing these materials has changed once every other decade, about as often as the media formats change. We have images on film negatives, color slides, glass negatives, metal plates and Kodak paper. Some of it has held up well over the years, and some has not.
The photo at right is from one of the better-preserved glass negatives. Apparently the newspaper at one point offered a photographic portrait-making service. The etching says "141 Michael Meyel 6 tint 6." I'm not certain what the numbers mean, but they likely have something to do with the number and type of prints the customer ordered. The surname of the subject might be Meyer or Meryl rather than Mezel — I'm not good at deciphering that creepy Spencerian script.

I'll probably post more of these photos in the future as the mood strikes me. Some of them might even pop up in the 'Remember When?' feature in Sunday's print edition (but don't stop sending me yours!).

Any idea who this fella Michael Meyel (-er?) might have been? If so, drop me a line at backerbauer@leaderherald.com.

I have several other history-related irons in the fire these days. Here's a brief sample of one of the audio recordings I've been working on. This is former Johnstown City Historian Robert Bedford sharing a tale about the old days of trolley transportation in the Glove Cities. It's from a cassette recording made in 1988. Click on the little arrow next to "play" to hear the story:  

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