May 5, 1901, Brooklyn

Made from four glass plate negatives taken by my great-great grandfather, George Wheeler, on May 5, 1901 in Brooklyn, New York Three of the photographs depict two young children playing in a park, the fourth is of a home interior. These negatives were scanned on a flatbed, manipulated as needed for printing then printed on an inkjet and oversealed with shellac. The original envelopes holding the negatives were scanned, the handwriting on them enhanced as needed for legibility, and printed on text weight rag paper. The photos and laserprints were laminated to 2 ply museum board with steel rods bound on the side edges with tinted tyvek. Those panels, along with three of the negatives then bound wire edge style with surgical thread. The fourth negative is suspended in a multi-layerd box lid, with an overlay of mica. The book’s title is laseretched into mica using a scan of Wheeler’s handwriting. The outside of the box has a representation of this same handwriting laser etched into it, then was over painted with acrylic and sealed with wax. The box is a single tray with a gap along the inner wall to facilitate removal of the book. The book cover papers and box cloth are relief printed from placemats belonging to Wheeler’s grand- dauaghter’s household.