The staff at the Fenton History Center’s Research Center is now processing a very large collection of negatives from commercial photography studios. So far, nearly 5,000 negatives have been scanned. All of the scanned negatives are from the Art Metal Construction Company, covering from the mid-1920s to the years of World War II. Many of the photographs seem to have been taken of Art Metal products installed in banks, libraries, and courthouses around the world. We found a few prints mixed in with the negatives that were from a photographer in Guatemala. In addition to the finished installation of the products, there are many negatives showing the progress of the installation. The unfortunate part is that there is no identification as to what and where these installations are located. As we are able to study the images and even print them as positives, we may be able to identify some of the places if there is a sign on a building or we find other identifying marks. Right now, our main objective is to capture the images.

Other negatives show the individual products such as file cabinets, desks and chairs that were made at Art Metal. One might think of these as boring when seeing one after another negative of a file cabinet. Closer inspection may show subtle differences in the file cabinets, which are not obvious during the scanning of the negatives. Since these are sequentially numbered and it seems that the negatives are in chronological order, we may be able to estimate the time period for groups of negatives. Working with other records in the special collection at the Fenton History Center, we may be able to narrow down the time period even better and have a record of the progress and changes in the products of the Art Metal Construction Company (later known as Art Metal, Inc.).

The reason we are scanning these negatives is that they are nitrate negatives, which can deteriorate and lead to explosions and fire. After scanning, the negatives can then be disposed of properly by hazardous materials personnel. The danger will be eliminated, but we will still have the images saved. After 1939, nitrate negatives were no longer made, although some photographers did have a supply that they continued to use into the 1940s.

While scanning, we noticed negatives with people included in the scene. There are some that have a young woman demonstrating filing in a drawer of the file cabinet, sitting at a desk with a typewriter (exhibiting proper posture, of course), or showing that even the bottom drawer of the file cabinet was easily accessible. Some of the young ladies appeared in more than one negative.

We began wondering who these young ladies were. They could have been professional models hired by the photographer or they could have been employees of Art Metal who were recruited to be in the photograph when the photographer arrived at the factory. We did find one negative that we could match to a photograph in The Office Economist, a publication produced by Art Metal. This happened to be the cover of the September/October 1934 issue. The above photograph is the cover of the publication. Does anyone recognize this person? If anyone knows who this is, please contact the staff at the Fenton History Center at 664-6256 or email karen@fentonhistorycenter.org. Or, if anyone knows of someone who was in some of the advertising photographs for Art Metal or any of the other companies in this area, please let us know.