GALLATIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — A remarkable preservation effort in Sumner County has saved more than 10,000 glass plate negatives that capture life in the early 1900s, providing a window into the county's past that might otherwise have been lost forever.
What started as approximately 7,000 negatives turned into a much larger project when volunteers discovered the true extent of the collection.
"But in the end it came out to be more like between 10 and 11,000," said Allen Haynes, who has been involved with the project since its beginning.
The negatives, created by professional photographer E.M. Stark in the early 1900s, have been meticulously cleaned, preserved, and indexed at the Sumner County Archives.
"I've seen every one because I indexed," said Julie Kincheloe at the Sumner County Archives. "I indexed – every – image."
The final count reached 10,157 indexed negatives, each one carefully preserved in special archival paper.
The collection features numerous portraits that capture the essence of Sumner County residents.
"He (Stark) captures, I say, the soul of people," said Bonnie Martin, the director of the county's archives.
The preservation effort required significant dedication. Volunteers from the Sumner County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution learned specialized cleaning techniques to restore the fragile negatives, many of which were dusty and damaged.
"The ladies that cleaned the negatives before, they had to learn how to do that too," Haynes explained.
The collection offers glimpses of soldiers, schoolboys, and everyday people whose descendants might still live in the community today.
"You don't find people with dedication much anymore, for something like that," Haynes said.
For those involved, the project represents more than just preserving old photographs – it's about saving history itself.
"If somebody doesn't do it, and sometimes that ends up being me," Haynes said. "It just won't get done and history will be gone."
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