Providence Public Library first introduced the glass negatives to AS220 during the wintertime and we were highly interested, so a project was created. The Library wanted AS220 to document and photograph the negatives so a team of photographers was gathered. Krystal, Scott, Alario, myself and a few others decided to meet every Thursday to document these wonderful negatives from the early 1800's.

First we cataloged each negative at the library, giving them their own numbers and codes. We cleaned the negatives with a "make up" brush because it's much softer and we didn't want to damage the negatives. Then we photographed the negatives on a light table with a digital camera and put them in an archival envelop for protection. After every session at the library, we went back to As220 so myself and others could digitally process the negatives that we shot, turning them from a negative into a positive.

The collection had photos from across Rhode Island of wealthy people, landscapes, houses, portraits and farms. Hundreds of negatives were cataloged and photographed. It took about four months to get through all of them. Eventually, they will all be used on a website which will be used to promote the project.

By Anthony Villavicencio

More photographs after the jump ! ! !