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Glass photographic plates containing negative images taken by J. R. Eike in
1914-1917. Tom Kempland writes of his discovery that almost ended up in the
trash, "The photos and glass plates I received from Mr. & Mrs. Eike
after they had been given my name & phone number at one of their other
relatives garage sale. They telephoned me about some old photographs they had
that I may be interested in. So I made an appointment to meet them at their
house. When my wife and I came to look at the photos, we spent a nice afternoon
talking with them. After they said that know one else (in their family?) was
interested in the photos and was glad that I was. As we were leaving, Mrs. Eike
ask if I wanted to go out to their garage to look at the glass plates and if I
wanted them I could or she was going to put them out for the trash. I wish that
I had known the importance of the plates I could have gotten more background on
them..."
An example of the brief notes J.R. Eike left for photo identification.
Tom Kempland of Concord Village (Formerly a resident of Florissant). He is a nephew of former St. Louis Mayor Conway and has a knack at finding rare historic items at garage sales. Tom scanned all the negative images on the glass plates and reversed them to create positive images for all to enjoy.