Copper Plate Photograph
New Ipswich Historical Society
Four Women
I believe this photo in our collection is an example of photogravure. It is printed on a copper plate.
Photogravure (in French héliogravure) is a process for printing photographs, also sometimes used for reproductive intaglio printmaking. It is a photo-mechanical process whereby a copper plate is grained (adding a pattern to the plate) and then coated with a light-sensitive gelatin tissue which had been exposed to a film positive, and then etched, resulting in a high quality intaglio plate that can reproduce detailed continuous tones of a photograph.
The process was important in 19th-century photography, but by the 20th century was only used by some fine art photographers. By the mid-century it was almost extinct, but has seen a limited revival.
Source: Wikipedia
Newspaper Clipping
August 1927 - New Fire Engine
August 1927
New Fire Engine Arrives The fire engine purchased by the town of the Wachusett Motor company of Fitchburg was delivered on Monday afternoon. A demonstration was given first in Post Office Square where water was thrown over the New Ipswich library. Then the engine was taken to Preston pond and the hose laid to the Congregational church and a stream of water thrown over the bell tower.
The town owns 1000 feet of hose and only one half was used in the demonstration and it is estimated that the entire length would reach to the residence of Dr. Albert Norris. At the demonstration the engine threw 75 gallons of water a minute but it is capable of throwing 400 gallons in that time. With attachments it will throw three streams of water. Frederic W. Ely and Henry Farrar of Greenville, Harris H. Rice, Richard Rice, George W. Wilder and Louis Stebbins of Rindge and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Clark of Greenfield, Mass., were present.
James Roger diary entries
21st August 1912
Cloudy and warm wind southwest. David painting at Schoolhouse. I went for wood to Walker’s and fixed Hall for sidewalk dance tonight. Picked chicken for Miss Barr. Got some medicine from Dr. Jones.
John Poltrack put up a photo of the Ely house in Bank Village on March 13. This is a house I would have loved to live in instead of the one next to Duval's store. It has a sign on the barn that says 'Riverview'. It must have been on River Rd and based on the terrain, on the right side of River Rd as you drive towards Bank Village. Assuming fewer trees in the 1800s the property near the Drone Services place is a candidate. The property was the summer residence of F.W. Ely who was in the cotton manufacturing business.
The Ely property was bought from the Pritchard family.
I thought Fred Ely was a resident of New Ipswich and lived on River Rd and was part owner of the mill in Highbridge. Maybe it was an ancestor of his that I'm thinking of.