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Glass plate negative, pre-scanning

Scanned image: Cowboy in Banks, OR

William Alonso Clapshaw was a clerk and shopkeeper who lived near Forest Grove, Oregon for most of his life. He was born in 1880, probably at the family's home in the Hillside neighborhood of Forest Grove, on what is now Clapshaw Hill Road east of Gales Creek. Around 1910-1914, William took an interest in photography and created a set of glass plate negatives documenting scenes near his family's lands as well as his friends and family members. He even took a "selfie" portrait by pulling a string on his camera's shutter! The glass plate negatives were donated to the Pacific University Archives in 2023 via a local artist, Cherie Savoie Tintary.

Glass plate negatives are very fragile and prone to damage. To preserve their content, the Pacific University Archives carefully scanned the plates, digitally inverting the colors to make positive images. We then researched the content of each photo. The results, displayed on this site, show views of people and places around Forest Grove in the 1910s that have never been published before.

See some highlights below, or Browse by Subject to see his images of Farms, Industry, Homes, Portraits and more.