|
PSS
History
May
1856 to
December 1856
Laws
of PSS
By
May 1856, the following Laws of the Society had been agreed.
1.
Membership
There were to be two categories of
membership, Honorary
and Ordinary
Members
Honorary
Members were to consist only of
foreigners
Ordinary
Members’ subscriptions were to be:
-
one guinea payable in advance on 1 March
-
half a guinea if admitted after 1 December
-
10 guineas (or
7 guineas for life membership if 4 annual
subscriptions have already been paid) for life membership
I
have not found any evidence of anybody becoming a life member
The
guinea subscription was sufficient to accumulate a healthy balance in the
Society’s Accounts. It remained unchanged until 1866, when subscriptions were discontinued.
2. Meetings
The Constitution required
Meetings
to be held on the 2nd Tuesday of
each month from November to April:
--
to receive communications on photography
-
to discuss subjects connected therewith
-
for the exhibition of photographic work
-
for the election of members
-
but for no other purpose
3. Journals
Arrangements were made for the
Proceedings
of the Society to be published in the Photographic Journal, and for members to
receive a copy, gratis.
4.
Exhibitions
Sellers of work at the Annual Exhibition were to pay 10% of the price
to the Society.
The
first Exhibition
The
1st Annual Exhibition was held in December 1856.
There were 8,000 visitors and 1,050
pictures. Press coverage was very supportive and the exhibition made a
profit of £29 9s 11½d
The
Report at first PSS Annual General Meeting commented:
"It is not intended that the
Annual Exhibition should be a means of adding to the funds of the Society; the
main objects of instituting such an Exhibition being:
-
to
aid in increasing the public taste for art
- to
afford the Members an opportunity of contrasting their own works with those of
their fellow members, and of photographers at a distance."
Monthly
meetings
Meetings
were held at 8pm in the Council Rooms of the Antiquarian Society, 117 George
Street.
Each
member had the right to bring a friend (Lady or Gentleman) to meetings of the
Society.
Membership
increased faster than anticipated. Attendances
at the monthly meetings ranged from 25 to 60 members.
The
meetings appear to have been formal, typically consisting of:
-
Minutes of the previous meeting
-
Lecture delivered to the Meeting,
-
Motion, proposed and seconded, thanking
the speaker
-
Display of items.
Lectures
Lectures
delivered between May and December were:
-
Photography …………................................. Sir David Brewster
-
The Calotype Process …...............................
William Walker
-
The Waxed Paper process
............................. Thomas Keith
-
Tour in
France……………............................
Cosmo Innes
-
The Forgery of Bank Notes
by Photography
.. TB Johnston
-
Photo
Lithography……….........................… N MacPherson
All
the speakers above, except Mr MacPherson were then Council Members of the
Society.
The
last two of these lectures were both given on the evening of 9 December 1856.
There was an attendance of fifty Members. The
minutes of the December meeting record that:
"The
Chairman, Messrs Tunny, Jas Ross, TB Johnston, Geo Harvey and D O Hill
afterwards made observations on he subject of Mr Macpherson’s
communication."
Displays
of Photographs and Equipment
Displays
at the Monthly Meetings included:
-
several collections of travel photographs,
and examples of photograph by the Photolithography process
-
a Papier maché photo disk made by Messrs
Jenners and Bettridge (which was strongly
recommended)
-
a new form of double
stereoscopic camera - taking a Series of Views in the open air without a dark
tent
-
an apparatus for carrying a number of
prepared glass plates, for transferring them to the Camera in the open air one
after the other
Society’s Albums
Donations
to the Society’s albums were made by several Members of the Society:
-
Horatio Ross of Netherley, Stonehaven
-
Rev T M Raven of Bedale, Yorkshire
-
CJ Burnett of Aberdeen
-
Ivan Szabo of St Andrews, Fife
|