Dillman's Glass Plate Negatives:
Above: Dillman's camera used glass plate negatives. Glass plate size: 5 inches x 4 inches.
Above: Dillman takes a photo by squeezing the bulb on his shutter-release cable.
Dillman's photographs on this website date from ca. 1895 to the 1920s. Many decades later several hundred of his glass plate negatives were sold at the estate auction of his brother Norman Bomberger, on August 5, 1989. The auction was on the Bomberger farm on Bomberger Road, Lititz, where Norman had been farming, and where Dillman and his brothers had been raised.
At that 1989 auction, the glass plate negatives were purchased by Jim Tshudy, an antiques collector living near Ephrata. He did not research the photographs, so he was not familiar with Dillman Bomberger or this Bomberger family. James Tshudy created digital scans of the negatives, and then sold some of the negatives.
Clarke Hess had also attended that 1989 Bomberger auction. He was aware that Dillman Bomberger was the photographer, but he did not investigate these images further, until 2016. At that time, Clarke and I asked Jim Tshudy about the negatives, as part of our ongoing research about Lititz-area Mennonite farms.
Jim then provided me with digital copies of hundreds of the Dillman Bomberger photographs. He also gifted the remaining 70 glass plate negatives to me. I then digitally restored the best images for this website.
I recently donated these glass-plate negatives to the Lititz Historical Foundation. Meanwhile, my goal is to locate more photographs by Dillman Bomberger to add to this website.
If you have additional images or information you can contact me at:
Lee J. Stoltzfus
4500 Crossings Blvd. Apt. F303
Lancaster, PA 17601Phone: (717) 371-7320
Email: [email protected]