Camera Club

February 27th, 2013

The 1899 Michigan Photographers convention, held in Grand Rapids, inspired the organizing of a local camera club. It's an organization still active in the city today.

Transcript

The fourth annual Michigan Photographers convention was held in Grand Rapids at the beginning of February 1899. One local result of the convention was the interest stirred up in organizing a local camera club. Since there were over 1500 amateur photographers in Grand Rapids, male and female, it didn’t take long for the Camera Club to get organized. In the early days they often met at the studio of photographer O.A. Gillett, housed in the Gilbert Building.

In 1901 a great stroke of luck occurred. B.D. Jackson, who had been a photographer in the city since 1879, decided to head west. The Camera Club was able to take over his lease and possession of his quarters on the third floor of the Auditorium Building at Fountain and Ionia.

In addition to a large meeting room there was a completely equipped dark room and printing room, plus one of the finest skylights in the city. The club met once a week on Friday evening, but the clubrooms were always kept open for the use of the members. They were able to make free use of the dark room, printing room, and the other conveniences that the new quarters provided.

At the time they occupied their new quarters the Camera Club membership was about seventy. They formally opened and held their first meeting in their new rooms on September 6, 1901.