By Marilyn Day, July 2023
Signature from Panorama of Comrade Langley’s funeral
On May 21 while on docent duty at the Westford museum, I watched as a young man studied the large panoramic photograph we have of the Fletcher granite workers taken the day before Christmas in 1926 which hangs in the granite exhibit. This framed picture, 10” x 50”, was photographed by “Geo. H. Russell” of Lowell. How, the young man asked me, did someone take that photograph and retain the flat shape? There’s no distortion in the photograph, and you can see it’s all one photo, not separate sections pieced together.
The Westford Historical Society has in its collection twelve unique photographs, plus duplicates, taken by George H. Russell. In 1910, in Lowell, George Russell was listed as a teamster, but on 21 Oct. 1913, a large photograph taken by Russell of the Traders National Bank building was featured in the Lowell Sun at the time of the bank’s failure. By the 1920 federal census he was listed as a photographer, and in the 1930 census as a commercial photographer. The 1915 Lowell City Directory shows Russell’s photography business located at 31 Runels bldg., Merrimack Sq. with his home at 586 Bridge Street, Lowell. At the time of his death in 1944 his address was 129 Branch Street, Lowell.
The earliest Russell photograph in the society’s collection is dated 25 September 1920, when he photographed an 8” x 41” panoramic view of a large crowd of Abbot employees and families attending a field day held at Abbot Park in Graniteville, an event sponsored by the Abbot Worsted Company.
Just a portion of the 41” panorama of the Abbot Worsted Co. Outing held in Graniteville in 1920
The following year, there is another panoramic photo, this time of Westford veterans taken on 29 May 1921. Its overall size is 8” x 20”. You may see that photograph in June Kennedy’s Westford Recollections, 1729-1979, on pages 90 and 91.
George Russell’s early photographs do not appear to have serial numbers, but by the time he photographed the Fletcher granite workers in 1926, the number 2662 appears with his name in the lower right-hand corner. There are three more panoramic photographs taken at the H. E. Fletcher Granite Company showing the derricks and ledges. One is an 8” x 17.5” view dated 1921, another is 10” x 53” taken in 1927, and lastly a 10” x 49.5” dated 1928.
Next, there are two prints taken at Adelard J. Langley’s funeral at St. Catherine Cemetery in Westford on 6 June 1921. The military funeral was well attended as this young man was Westford’s first victim of WWI and had died in France on 5 May 1918. His remains were finally returned to his parents on 1 June 1921 and his service was held on the 6th. The photographs show his flag draped coffin and the crowd of attendees. One is 8” x 36” and the other is 5” x 36” and have no serial numbers. There are also two 3” x 5” postcards made from his photographs. One is labeled “Comrade Langley’s funeral leaving St. Catherine Church,” and the other reads “Comrade Langley’s body arriving at St. Catherine cemetery.”
A portion of the 36” panorama of Comrade Langley’s funeral from 1921
Lastly, on September 29, 1929, Westford celebrated its 200th birthday with a pageant held in the field off Hildreth Street, now called Pageant Field. Mr. Russell captured four panoramic views of this event. Again, you may see his photograph #3115 in June Kennedy’s Westford Recollections, 1729-1979, on pages 72 and 73. The other three serial numbers from the pageant are 3114, 3214 and 3215. These are all 11” x 26” in size.
On Monday, 19 June 2023, Ron Polito, from the Photographic Historical Society of New England (https://phsne.org), visited the Westford museum to look at the Thomas E. Marr photographs of the Mass. Volunteer Militia that were recently donated by George “Sandy” Shepherd’s children. Ron is co-author of the book A Directory of Massachusetts Photographers, 1839-1900. Before he left to return to Newton, Ron took a look at our 10” x 50” Fletcher granite photograph and explained how panoramic prints were made, telling us that a camera slowly rotated and captured a large image on a single sheet of film. A few days later, he e-mailed a link to an excellent article by Madeleine Muzdakis available at Panoramic Photographs From the Civil War Panoramas to Modern iPhones (mymodernmet.com). The article stated, “Panoramic cameras using flexible film typically fell into two categories. With the swing-lens cameras, a lens rotated as it exposed a “slit” of image over stationary film. In the 360-degree rotation cameras, also known as rotating panoramic cameras, the camera lens rotates while the film is pulled along by a synchronous motor.” The first consumer panoramic camera was the Al-Vista, introduced in 1898. Shortly after, Kodak introduced the #1 and #4 Panoram swing-lens cameras, and later still the Cirkut camera.
Today, most cellphones are capable of taking panoramic photographs. No tripod, no film, no developing required. Ahhh, modern technology.
A final word:
George Hall Russell was born as George Hall Jones at Concord, N.H., 3 July 1871, son of Daniel S. and Clara (Hall) Jones. His father, Daniel S. Jones, died at Concord in 1874, and Clara next married at Lowell, Mass. in 1876, James Cyrus Russell, son of Leonard and Sarah (Hall) Russell. In 1877 George’s name, as well as two of his sisters’, was officially changed from Jones to Russell. George Hall Russell died at Lowell on Christmas day in 1944. He and his wife, Alma, are interred in Edson Cemetery, Lowell.
Notes:
His name appears on photographs as Geo. H. Russell, George H. Russell, and George Hall Russell.
An advertisement The Lowell Sun in the “Lost and Found” section on 13 November 1918 stated, “TIN CAN containing film 11 inches long and 2 inches round lost Monday morning. Reward to finder if returned in good condition to Geo. H. Russell, 23 Bridge St.”
A Directory of Massachusetts Photographers, 1839-1900, Picton Press, Camden, Maine, 1993. This book is available at the J. V. Fletcher Library (Ref. 770.92 STE). An on-line version (without illustrations) can be viewed and downloaded from: http://openarchives.umb.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15774coll12/id/98/rec/1