Goodwin Glass Plate Negatives – Research Conclusions/Summary

[Joe_G.]

Bump . . .

For a number of reasons, it has taken awhile for me to take delivery of the negatives I won at the Saco River Auctions, but they are now in-hand safe and sound. I want to begin by thanking the team at Chicago Albumen Works including Doug Munson, Toddy Munson, and Emily Phoenix who assisted with negative cleaning, scanning, creating a “back-up” LVT negative, creating prints, and providing archival storage materials and advice for safe keeping for the next 100 years. They likewise provided a good resource to help explain some of their observations made on various negatives such as the presence of varnish on some. Visit the following webpage from the Image Permanence Institute for far more details on 19th century negatives than I have provided.

Everything you wanted to know about Gelatin Dry Plates and more.

Among my winnings, a pair of Weidmans, a Moffett, and a pair of Matthews. I really cherish the Stump Weidman negatives since they date to the 1887 Detroit Wolverine photo shoot. Weidman is the only Detroit Wolverine player found amongst the known population of negatives. In my original post I shared all the modifications performed on one of the Weidman negatives and how it proves the negatives are original to the card making process. On a side note, one of Weidman negatives provides some clues on the bat’s maker but eludes my limited knowledge on the subject. Is anyone here able to identify the bat’s make/type? I had much better luck with Matthews, but more on that later.

The Moffett negative dates to an 1888 photoshoot at Fearnaught Studio. Fearnaught photographed both the Indy and Detroit teams before the start of the 1888 baseball season with Moffett’s negative providing some insight into why some of the player’s cards (especially N173s) contain a leg of the backdrop stand; i.e. a narrow backdrop. See N173 examples of Pete Conway (not mine) & Deacon White. In studying the Moffett negatives it becomes apparent that the optic focal plane is excellent at the bottom (feet) but falls behind the player as you move up to chest and face (blurry). Nice photo of front shoe, not so much for his face.

Last, but not least, the images Gilbert and Bacon captured of HOF hopeful Bobby Matthews. As previously mentioned, the Gilbert & Bacon negatives enjoy some of the best image clarity I’ve studied. I’m posting the complete negatives together with enlarged images (limited to 600x600).

Perhaps the biggest surprise from studying all the negatives at the Saco River Auction originate from the Bobby Matthews images in which he was handling a very early Louisville Slugger bat. I’m told that this 1888 image predates any other known professional model Hillerich bat in print, photo, or actual surviving bat by approximately a decade. As the legend goes, the first professional model Hillerich bat was used by Pete Browning in 1884 and wouldn’t become commonplace until much later (Louisville Slugger being patented in 1894). On the bat you can clearly make out the proper address for Hillerich’s wood shop, 216 FIRST ST, LOUISVILLE, KY which today is 118S 1st St (home to Hillerich’s shop from 1875-1901). I just wish the bat were rotated a bit so we could see what was printed on the bat above the address. It almost looks like it might say “J F HILLERICH & SON” (bottom bat - from "bat at side" pose) but I have conflicting information from HOF, Louisville Slugger Museum, and Net54 members as to when this would have been possible. Some suggest this wasn’t possible until 1897 yet there is literature dated 1895 that uses “J F HILLERICH & SON”. Others suggest this could have been used as early as 1887. The son, John Andrew "Bud" Hillerich, was working for his father, J. Frederick Hillerich, as an apprentice as early as 1880 but not sure when the father renamed the business J F Hillerich & Son.

Without further ado, here is the earliest known image of a professional model bat from the Hillerich family.