A Digital Souvenir: The 1900 Automobile Club 1,000 Mile Trial Main Menu A Digital Souvenir: The 1900 Automobile Club 1,000 Mile Trial Cover Page of Scalar Presentation Table of Contents Introduction Welcome! History of the First Trial Learn about the historical context surrounding the first ever 1,000 Mile Trial Participants Who were the people that undertook this historic event? Automobiles of the Early 20th Century Before cars were in wide use, they were a luxury status symbol at the turn of the 20th century. This section contains descriptions of some of the types of cars that ran in the original race in 1900. Motor Vehicles in the 1,000 Mile Trial of 1900 Motor vehicle model descriptions and information of the 1900 Trial. Mapping the Trial Check out some of the major stops along the route of the Trial Additional Resources For more information about the exhibit's topics and the 1,000 Mile Trial we have compiled resources here. Technical Note Included here are the standards and specifications used for our digitization process.

Photography

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While we may take the concept of taking a photograph for granted in today's world --where almost everyone has a digital camera in their pocket -- in the late Victorian Era, the ability to document a still image onto film was a groundbreaking technology that made the preservation of memory in a relatively short-period of time possible. The invention of the daguerrotype by Louis Daguerre in 1839 led to a series of gradual innovations in the development of the medium that allowed amateur photographers to start taking up the skill. In the 1880s, the invention of the dry plate revolutionized photography, as it allowed for a much less cumbersome and time-intensive process than the wet plate process, which required a portable darkroom with photo chemicals to develop the film and prevent premature exposure. 

“The invention of dry plates (aka the gelatin process) made photography faster and easier. In contrast to the cumbersome wet-plate process, mass-manufactured dry plates did not need to be prepared and processed close to the time of exposure.

 

“Writing in 1894, photographer James Lawrence Breese concisely summed up the impact: “the photographic artists has…a wider range at the present time than ever before, for the modern dry plate, so rapid in its action, permits photography from the rigging of a ship in motion, as well as on the busiest thoroughfare of the metropolis.”” [1]

In contrast, the dry plate process allowed for photographic emulsions immersed in gelatin to be coated in glass plates, which made photography more accessible, introducing new image producing possibilities. 
 

“Yielding faster exposure times throughout the 1880s, dry plates worked well with new, smaller, and more portable cameras, called hand cameras. In part, the short exposure time of the dry plate led to the design of camera shutters, which could open and close more quickly than the hand could remove and replace the lens cap. The dry plate allowed photographers to record movement and permitted them greater mobility and anonymity. Because the image registered so quickly, the photographer did not need a tripod." [1]



Argent Archer became a photographer and started his own studio in the same time period that the dry plate was invented. The dry plate's ability to allow a photographer to capture a subject in motion led Archer to take up motoring photography as his speciality. His notoriety as a photographer in this area led him to take many photographs of early motor racing in turn-of-the-century Britain. [2] He was commissioned by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu to take photographs for the first 1000 Mile Trial and assemble them into commemorative albums to be given to key participants. The University of Michigan holds one of those albums that is represented in this presentation. 





Citations:
[1] Marien, Mary Warner. Photography: A Cultural History. New York: Harry N. Abrams. 2002. 
[2] "Argent Archer." National Portrait Gallery. Accessed April 13, 2018. https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp08193/argent-archer

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