Henry Clay Camera Research

Henry Clay Camera Research

The Henry Clay Camera information appearing on this website is part of a personal research project that innocently started during a routine business trip in the fall of 1997. A chance meeting with a fellow collector yielded an interesting camera with a stiff carrying handle and large brass shutter – a Henry Clay Camera. Interestingly, this particular camera had a strange yet elegant sliding-bed, which represented an intriguing technical departure from a hinged bed and locking strut design – the norm for folding dry plate cameras of the period. A quick sifting through the usual references and price guides did not produce any information or pictures of similarly designed cameras. Additionally, responses from major collections and collectors to numerous inquiries were disappointing and succinct – the few other Henry Clay Cameras residing in collections had hinged beds and locking struts. Yet no one had heard of a sliding bed version. However tantalizing clues abound. An unidentified body matching the sliding bed description appeared at a camera show a few years back. Although the body was gutted, one well known collector commented that it exhibited the hallmarks of a Henry Clay Camera. Aside from this one sighting and the odd camera now residing in my collection, knowledge of Henry Clay Camera lore, other than it being made by the American Optical Company and sold by The Scovill & Adams Company of New York, is practically nonexistent. Even more intriguing, early Henry Clay Advertisements clearly illustrate a sliding drop-bed camera, yet none of us in the collecting community took notice. It was time to dig into the past. (Additional Henry Clay Camera references at the end of this page).

Although not the first mass produced folding-plate camera, The Henry Clay Camera is historically significant because it represents the first self-casing, folding-bellows dry-plate camera of the 1890s. As a note, the No.4 Folding Kodak Camera was exclusively a rollfilm camera from its introduction in 1890 to 1891. The Henry Clay Camera's innovative front standard also incorporated an extensive array of movements such as rises, double shifts and swings for controlling pictorial perspective.

Early folding-plate cameras (pre-1895) are very hard to find but were instrumental in ushering in the numerous lower cost models of the late 1890s. As a result, I felt The Henry Clay Camera's overall rarity and even rarer sliding drop-bed design variation merited documentation. Fortunately several private collectors, major collections, and institutions shared this view and provided reference material from their vast archives.

Research results based on the reference material were intriguing. In addition to the original Henry Clay Camera a total of four models were identified, and for the first time, a few Henry Clay cameras residing in major collections were correctly identified. These four versions make up what was advertised as the "Scovill & Adams Henry Clay Series." Moreover, 1891 has now been identified as the first year of production and 1892 as the year in which the hinged-bed body style, rollfilm capability, and stereoscopic versions appeared. The research also yielded some interesting design variations and insight into the types of custom orders clients made during the early 1890s.

One last mystery will likely remain unsolved – the camera’s name. American Senator Henry Clay first comes to mind as a suitable namesake. Although Henry Clay is not a central figure in the history of photography, his farewell speech of 1842 was made at a time when daguerreotype photography was available to record the important event. Except for a daguerreotype of his historic speech being made into an award winning engraving entitled "The United States Senate Chamber", there does not appear to be any relationship between the famous Senator and photography.

Otherwise, the camera may have been named after Henry Clay Price who wrote a book entitled "How to Make Photographs." The book was published by Scovill & Adams and had at least four editions. As of this writing, it is still unknown whether Henry Clay Price had any relation to Scovill & Adams or helped design the camera.

A monograph about Henry Clay Cameras was published in the February-March, 1999 issue of the Cascade Panorama: the publication of the Cascade Photographic Historical Society. Any further information that can contribute to this research or Henry Clay Cameras for purchase is greatly appreciated.

Selected Sources Referencing The Henry Clay Camera (Refer to note below):

J.C. Somerville, Jobber of Photographers Supplies, Saint Louis, Mo. Complete Catalogue No. 13. June 15th, 1891. A letter to patrons says that the catalogue was two months late. This implies that the Henry Clay Camera was available in early 1891.

1892. Scovill & Adams Co., How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Catalogue of Photographic Materials

1892. Scovill & Adams Co., Catalogue of Photographic Apparatus

1892. Scovill & Adams Co., The American Annual Of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac

1893. Scovill & Adams Co., The American Annual Of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac

1894. Scovill & Adams Co., The American Annual Of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac

1896. Scovill & Adams Co., Catalogue of Photographic Apparatus

1898. Scovill & Adams Descriptive Catalogue

1899. Scovill & Adams Co., The American Annual Of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac

The Henry Clay Cameras. Product Catalogue. n.d.

Note:

References to other Henry Clay Camera models such as the Stereoscopic and Jr. have been obtained but are not included on this website at this time. A monograph detailing the Henry Clay Camera series was published in February, 1999.

See also:

The Henry Clay Camera Assessment Of The Sliding Drop-Bed Design

The Henry Clay Stereoscopic Camera Henry Clay Advertising

The Henry Clay Regular Camera Henry Clay Timeline

Henry Clay 2d

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