Nelson's Glass Plate Negative project is a window on the past
Nelson's Glass Plate Negative project is a window on the past
Fiona Terry
North & South Magazine, 11 October 2017
Print from a glass plate negative of the Nelson Football Club. (Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection, 177867)
Nelson’s Glass Plate Negative Project is providing a precious window on the past.
Gardening enthusiasts might have preferred it if William Tyree hadn’t been so business savvy. While other photographers’ glass plates – used to make negatives in the early days of the craft – were sometimes repurposed as panes for greenhouses, canny Tyree kept his for later use.
With reprint requests providing ongoing income, he had a strongroom constructed to keep the fragile items safe from earthquakes and fire. Not only did his acumen benefit his own Nelson-based business, but the legacy he created – a collection of priceless glass-plate negatives dating back to 1860 – has helped document a visual history of New Zealand.