From: Richard Knoppow (dickburk@ix.netcom.com)
Date: 05/10/03-02:49:00 AM Z
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Shapiro" <sgshiya@redshift.com>
To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2003 11:49 PM
Subject: Alt. or Alternative Photography is . . .
> From the time readily manufactured silver gelatin
emulsions were factory
> manufactured, any means of photography was an
'alternative.' Does that
> settle the question?
>
> Historically speaking, it was a paper manufactured by
Defender that was
> considered the first factory made 'silver gelatin' paper.
Although, the
> Chicago Albumen Works made 'aternatives' to that, and I'm
not sure when the
> distinction became known to favor silver gelatin.
>
> S.
Defender was established in 1898. I think by then several
companies were making silver-gelatin paper for contact
printing. Defender _did_ make the first bromide enlarging
paper, the famous Velour Black.
I am not sure who should be credited with the first
silver-gelatin paper but it should be pointed out that
George Eastman was using paper coated wiht silver gelatin
emulsion for roll films before switching to cellulose
nitrate as the support. The flexible film base was
introduced about 1884, some forteen years before the
founding of Defender. Certainly, there must have been
silver-gelatin printing paper at this time and likely
before.
Silver-Gelatin emulsion began to displace collodion about
1873. One source I have attributes the first silver-gelatin
paper to Palmer and Smith c.1866 but the first published
details of preparing it was by Abney in 1882. The first
commercial developing out paper is attributed to the
Liverpool Dry Plate Company, c.1874. The first popular
printing paper in the USA was probably Velox, originally
invented by Leo Baekeland, also the inventor of Bakelite.
All of these were slow chloride paper intended for contact
printing using rather strong sources. the Defender paper was
a fast bromide paper. I no longer remember the date of its
introduction but think it was in the early 1930's. Velour
Black was made until the Defender company went out of
business, I think sometime in the 1960's.
Defender was owned for many years by Kodak and later was
bought by the DuPont chemical company, who also manufactured
motion picture film.
--- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA dickburk@ix.netcom.com
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