New light put on old photos

HAWLEY - Thanks to Hawley resident Ken Sproson and his donation of a portable light box, the Hawley Library’s work on its collection of glass photographic plates taken by Louis Hensel a century ago is moving further ahead. The light box makes it possible to view the glass negatives more safely and easily as work continues on efforts to catalog the collection in preparation for making as many pictures as possible available both for historical research and for reproduction. Noting that Sproson is also scanning the plates into a computer database with the goal of making the images more easily accessible, Hawley Library Board President Tony Waldron said, “The Library is very grateful for the time and artistic effort that Ken has donated toward making the Hensels available for everyone to see. In the near future, the Library will also be reproducing prints of these wonderful photos to make them available for sale to the public.”