Hello everyone, I am currently working on an archival project, The Family Museum, focused on amateur family photography. Over the past 25 years, my project co-founder, Nigel Shephard, has collected around 25,000 photos and 300 family albums dating from the mid-19th century to the present day. Inspired by the richness and size of this archive, we’d like to use it as a resource for exhibitions and presentations exploring themes related to family, popular culture and amateur photography. Its present content is focused almost wholly on British photography and amateur photographers.
The first exhibition we’re researching and planning for 2018 is centred on ‘Stickybacks’, the popular Edwardian studio portraits produced as a strip of six images on gummed paper, each portrait measuring approx 2in x 1.5in. The spur for this show was a selection of these photos originating from a Swindon studio, and we’re in touch with the Swindon Musuem and Art Gallery and local history networks there to collaborate on the exhibition.
Our fascination with the Stickyback phenomenon stems from its itinerant and ‘pop-up’ nature (the studios sprang up around the UK, on the Isle of Man and in Dublin), and the portraits themselves, many of which have intimate and playful aspects borne out in later photo-booth and even selfie photo culture. The ‘travelling box’ or ‘sliding box’ technology used in the Stickyback studios (developed principally we believe between the late 1890s and 1910 by Spiridione Grossi, originally from Liverpool, and later patented by him in 1916, as ‘Improvements in Strip Printing Photographic Apparatus’) is also an aspect we’re researching.
There are some excellent notes on the Stickyback phenomenon on a few local photography websites (notably Sussex PhotoHistory and Cambridgeshire Photographers), and Michael (Pritchard) thank you very much for your help on a couple of questions. If any other members have researched or come across Stickybacks, it would be great to hear from you.
Rachael
The Family Museum
Comments
Hi Rachael,
I have seen your exhibition online. Last year I made (together with others) a exhibition about Dutch stickyback photography. No I am investigating if it is possible to make an European one. I have already photo's from Belgium, France, Germany and some of italy and Portugal. Offcourse I know the very very informative website of Les Waters and János Mátyás Balog, but I asume their must be more. (as I also see in the comments). I hope to get in contact with you to get an overview of all the things you found.
Ragards,
Dirk
Everyone,
Thank you for your responses...I have replied individually and will keep you all updated with our research.
Rachael
I have a Stcikyback fro Sidney Boultwood's Stickyback studio at 66 St Peter's Street, Derby in my collection. I'd be very interested to hear of any others from this studio, as well as any details of when it was operating. Clearly this one was from the Great War, but I have no information on Boultwood's tenure of the "booth" in Derby. Sandy, does your list include Derby?
Regards, Brett
Hi Rachel,
Good luck with this interesting project. There is some useful material on Stickybacks Studios on my site at http://www.fadingimages.uk/photoSti.asp and at http://www.fadingimages.uk/StickyBack.asp, including material on the origin of the name, the connection with stamp photographs and a list of studios. Better illustrations and even more info can be found on David Simkin's excellent site at http://www.photohistory-sussex.co.uk/BoultwoodStickyBacksStudio.htm. I'm still trying to find out the name of the StickyBacks photographer in Peterborough, should you come across any of his/her work. I did come across an interesting newspaper article about a find of stickyback photos in Cornwall many months ago https://tinyurl.com/jd684nc - you might like to contact the finder Jon Symons - I've got his e-mail. Best wishes. Les Waters webmaster@fadingimages.uk