The Boston Camera Club is an amateur photographic organization in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1881, it offers activities of interest to amateur photographers, in both digital and film photography. Supported by member dues, its programs are open free to the public.
History
Photography was introduced in 1839. For some decades it involved laborious daguerreotype followed by wet-plate and other processes. Amateur photography in the United States got its first major boost in 1880, when the future Eastman Kodak Co. and others introduced dry plates-glass plates with pre-applied chemical emulsion. In 1888 Kodak introduced flexible media-first paper and soon film-and third-party processing. These innovations brought photography to the masses. Still, professionals and advanced amateurs typically continued to use glass plates until the early 20th century, when film was universally accepted. Today most photography, including in the club, is digital.
The club known today as the Boston Camera Club was founded October 7, 1881 in Boston as the Boston Society of Amateur Photographers. It is the oldest continuously active camera club founded by amateurs, and the second-oldest active camera club, in the U.S.The oldest continuously active camera club in the U.S. is the Photographic Society of Philadelphia, founded in 1862 and 19 years older than BCC. Founded mostly by professionals, it became amateur later. The third-oldest is the Baltimore Camera Club. The first amateur photographic organization in the U.S. was the Amateur Photographic Exchange Club, NYC, active 1861-1863. "In 1880 there were fewer than 10 camera clubs or societies in the U.S., all of them composed mainly...of commercial photographers." Greenough, 268. Present at the October 7 meeting were F. H. Blair, James M. Codman, W. C. Greenough, A. P. Howard, Lucius L. Hubbard, Frederick Ober, and John H. Thurston, with Thurston having the most active role. At first, temporary officers were elected. On November 9, 1881 in a Boston newspaper, the group solicited support from anyone else interested. Accordingly another nascent group, comprising James F. Babcock, William T. Brigham, Wilfred A. French, William A. Hovey, and others, joined them. The combined group met on November 18, 1881, and permanent officers were elected-Brigham president, Babcock vice president, and French secretary and treasurer. Babcock was a professor of chemistry; French and Thurston Boston photographic suppliers; Hovey a newspaper editor. At first the club met in various places, including the offices of Hovey's Boston Sunday Budget newspaper. Later, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), then located in Boston, became a regular meeting place. Dues were not particularly low for the time-$5 annually plus a $3 admission fee.Evening Transcript (Boston), Nov. 9, 1881; Kimball, 205. The earliest known mention of the post-November club is an announcement by secretary Thurston of formation of the Boston Society of Amateur Photographers in Photographic Times & American Photographer, Dec. 1881, 457-458, HT. At the time MIT, today located across the Charles River in Cambridge, Mass., was called simply the Institute of Technology.
As amateur photography in the United States became more widespread, in 1886 the club changed its name to Boston Camera Club. The first regular (all-member) meeting of the renamed club was held October 7, 1886. On April 6, 1887, it incorporated under the new name in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as that state styles itself, stating as its purpose the furthering of "the knowledge of photography in all its branches and the promotion of social intercourse among the amateur photographers of Boston and vicinity." The first president (1886-1890) of the incorporated club was George Edward Cabot, an electrical products manufacturer. As of 1888, the club had 64 members.Boston Club Book. By the end of the 19th century, it was typically closer to 100. By now, dues were expensive-$20 annually.
20th century
Starting in 1886 for some three-and-a-half decades, the Boston Camera Club rented headquarters at 50 Bromfield Street, Boston. It may have been selected by being the business address of both club founder Thurston, a photo supplier; and early vice president Charles Henry Currier, a jeweler and commercial photographer,Polito & Steele, 48; Robinson, 135-137, 223 (who calls Currier the "most gifted" New England commercial photographer). and by being in Boston's photo-supply district.Boston Almanac & Business Directory, v56, 1891, 426, HT, lists 3 photographers including Currier, and 6 photo suppliers & services including Thurston, on Bromfield St. The area remained Boston's main camera retail district until the early 21st century. See also King's How to See Boston, 1895, 92; and Thurston's business listings in Polito & Steele, 171. The club had eight rooms including an exhibition gallery, multi-function studio, dark rooms, enlarging room, and library. Equipment included cameras, Dallmeyer portrait lenses, enlargers, a double stereopticon lantern-slide projector, and electric arc lights, giving members the capability of making bromide and other prints, enlarged negatives, and lantern slides.Swift.
For reasons begging research, by 1908 the Boston Camera Club was facing difficulties, journal Photo-Era saying it had been "long been on the sick list."Photo-Era, May 1908, 261-262, HT. Although it remained active, holding member exhibitions until at least 1912, membership declined and its future was uncertain. Business meetings continued, but apparently far fewer regular meetings. The club was kept alive by Frank Roy Fraprie (FRAYP-ree), club president Phineas Hubbard, Horace A. Latimer, and the aging Thurston. The club, it is believed in 1924, left 50 Bromfield Street and for some years met at the Boston Young Men's Christian Union (YMCU). Amateur photography in Boston now seems to have been dominated by three entities-the Boston YMCU Camera Club (a different entity than Boston Camera Club's meetings at YMCU), active from 1908 to at least the 1920s;Photo-Era, Apr. 1920, 214, HT. Boston Photo-Clan, active about 1912-1921, mentored by Boston commercial photographer John H. Garo, at whose studio it met, of which Fraprie was a member as well;Photo-Era, Apr. 1912, 184; American Photography, Dec. 1914, 742. HT. and The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston.
In 1931 a bequest by club member Horace A. Latimer of Boston, a wealthy amateur photographer of some renown, reinvigorated the Boston Camera Club.State of Maine, Last Will and Testament of Horace A. Latimer, Oct. 19, 1931. Latimer also bequeathed money to the Portland (Maine) Camera Club, founded in 1899, thanks to which it too prospered and is still active. The club moved temporarily to 330 Newbury Street in the Back Bay section of Boston. Although membership in 1934 was only 45, in 1936 with Latimer's bequest it purchased a building at nearby 351 Newbury Street, Back Bay,BCC bought 351 Newbury St. from Frank R. Fraprie's American Photographic Publishing Co. Deed, July 8, 1936. When it actually moved into the building begs inquiry. It may have been renting there for some time. where it occupied three floors, having two exhibition galleries, darkroom, library, and kitchen. Public exhibitions resumed. For tax reasons, in 1946 the club sold no. 351 and remained in the building as a lessee.BCC, succession of 5-year leases, June 1, 1946 ff. In this era the club leased and occupied floors two and three, changing its address from 351 to 351A Newbury St. The new owner apparently occupied the first floor only. Growth continued apace. Membership rebounded and, especially with the return of service persons after World War II, reached 350 about 1949. It reached its highest known level of 547 in 1959,Per BCC records. The 547 comprised 492 regular, 51 associate or corresponding, and 4 honorary members. From the 19th to early 21st century the club had associate members-correspondents living beyond a 25-mile radius of Boston, some out of state, who paid half dues and often sent in their photographs by mail for competition in the club. a trend attributable to post-war prosperity and the introduction of 35-millimeter film by Kodak in the 1930s. Throughout, enthusiasts often sought instruction in camera use by joining a camera club. Starting in the 1960s for much of the rest of the century, however, membership declined again, for example to 440 in 1970, and then much lower. Much of it was due to camera automation requiring less instruction, like single lens reflex (SLR) cameras introduced in the 1960s, autofocus and automated exposure in the 1970s, the introduction of rival hobby technologies like consumer video, and sociological factors.
Because of the owner's sale of the building, in 1980 the Boston Camera Club had to vacate its 351 Newbury Street headquarters. For the first and only time, the club left Boston, relocating to the adjacent town of Brookline, Massachusetts.Finding the new location was largely the work of club president George H. Moseley, for which he was made an honorary member In 1997 it moved across town to another part of Brookline. Starting in 2006 membership rebounded again, due in large part to the club's emphasis on digital photography, increased promotion of the club, and its website.The first discussion and vote by the club on whether to admit digital images in competitions were held in June 1995. In 2020-2022 during the worldwide coronavirus, the club held its meetings and presentations online. In 2023 the Boston Camera Club returned to Boston, and to its present headquarters and meeting place, historic Old South Church in BostonOld South Church in Boston is familiarly called "New" Old South Church, to distinguish itself from its former building, Old South Meeting House, the famous meeting place still standing in downtown Boston, after a meeting in which in 1773 rebellious Massachusetts colonials went in disguise to a Boston wharf, boarded merchant ships, and destroyed a shipment of the import enshrined in the name of their action, the Boston Tea Party. in Copley Square, in Boston's Back Bay district.
Prominent members
Because the Boston Camera Club was founded before amateur photography was widespread, many early members were knowledgeable practitioners. A few even made advances in photographic technology, or received notice for their work. Since at least 1889, the Boston Camera Club has awarded honorary life membership on two classes of individuals—members giving extraordinary service to the club, and outside personalities in the Boston area for signal achievement in photography. As of 1889 there was one honorary member, Boston studio photographer Frank Rowell.Whether Rowell is BCC's first honorary member begs research. Boston Club Book for 1889, 46. Rowell is listed in business in Boston from 1859; later as Allen & Rowell. Polito & Steele, 23-24, 115.
19th century
Among the founders of the Boston Society of Amateur Photographers, as the Boston Camera Club was first known, its first vice president James F. Babcock was a Boston chemistry professor who held several U.S. patents. Wilfred A. French was publisher and editor of journal Photo-Era, and a founding member of a group called the National Historic Picture Guild.Robinson, 126; Polito & Steele & Steele, 63, 167. Prominent in the early club were Emma J. Fitz; Rhode Island photographer, painter, and suffragist Sarah Jane Eddy;Eddy: American Amateur Photographer, Mar. 1899, 121-122.