The Little Museum

With The Big Collection!

Photography Through Time!

 
In an effort to provide more interpretation on various parts of the Collection, the Museum will feature those  parts of the Collection from time to time.  Click on the names of the various photo processes to take you to another website that will explain each process.  Use your BACK button to return here.

Our first Featured Exhibit will be a look at the history of Photography through time.  The museum has an abundant collection of photographs going all the way back to the 1840's and cameras from the 1890's. The presentation will display Daguerreotypes (invented in 1837), Ambrotypes (1850's) , Cyanotypes (1842) Tintypes (1853), Albumen Prints (1848),  Cartes-de-visite (1854), Cabinet Cards (1862), Dry Plate Prints (1878), panoramic photos, a huge variety of photographs from the 1910's thru the 1950's, stereopticons(1838), a Kodak Studio Camera - circa 1900, a Seneca View Camera, circa 1906, a variety of folding pocket cameras (1910's), Kodak Brownies(1950's)  and more.  Take a look through an 1880's Stereopticon while you are there.

In addition, we will highlight the work of photographer/artist James Boniface Schriever who lived in  Emporium in the 1880's and 1890's. Schriever was well know in this section of Pennsylvania and later in the Kane and Scranton areas. A master photographer, Schriever captured much Emporium and Cameron County History in the late 1800's, including a series of photos of the 1889 Flood and many photos of the logging industry. Shriever went on to become one of the foremost photographers of his time, writing a 25 volume encyclopedia on photography. Today, professional photographers vie for the opportunity to be awarded The James B. Schriever Memorial Plaque, considered to be the highest honor in photography in Pennsylvania.

Schriever's cousin, William George Bair (Bair Studios) became a photographer under his tutelage and the Museum is proud to have many of his beautiful photographs. Bair took some breathtaking photographs of the early graduating classes and the families of Emporium. Other local photographers will include Prosser, Weiman, Ollivette and more.

You will also find around the Museum a variety of photographs on display - the earliest photo of Emporium in 1869,  panorama photos from 1871 and 1904, photos of Civil War, WWI, WWII soldiers, CCC Camps, local bands from the 1890's, Firemen, aerial views of Emporium, studio photos of Tom Mix,  and much, much more.

                                                    Please afford yourself enough time to see the entire collection.  You wouldn't want to miss any of it!