The History of Microfilm: 1893 to the Present |
| The names of two men dominate the early days of microfilming. The credit for making the first microphotograph belongs to John Benjamin Dancer, an English scientist, inventor and optical manufacturer. He was also responsible for performing experiments which made microfilming a practical medium for reproducing manuscripts, printed materials and pictorial records. To the French chemist, portrait photographer and inventor, Rene Dagron, we owe the establishment of microfilming on a commercial scale. Other names appear in the story of microphotography. Many were men of great capabilities and wide renown in other fields, but their talents were not applied in any great degree toward micro-photography. To an extent, current microfilm techniques, equipment and applications trace their ancestry to the work of two pioneers, Dancer and Dagron. |
| John Benjamin Dancer: The Father of Microphotography J. B. Dancer , the celebrated Manchester optician and instrument maker, was born in London, the son of Josiah Dancer, also an optician and manufacturer of optical, philosophical and nautical instruments. At an early age he became an apprentice in his father's business and in 1835 J. B. took over his father's optical work shop. He then moved to Manchester from Liverpool in 1841 when he was aged 29. Dancer was an orthodox optician supplying spectacles, as well as being an inventor and instrument maker of outstanding ability. At a young age he had acquired the art of grinding microscope and other types of lenses. During his lifetime he made substantial contributions to microscopy, photography and science. Dancer also began the manufacture of daguerreotype cameras and added them to his already impressive line of optical products. He was established as the first commercial practitioner of developing and printing in all England, the prototype in fact of the modern drug store's photographic department. Active as he was with the microscope and camera, it seems only natural that Dancer should have attempted to combine the two techniques. In 1839 Dancer pioneered the making of microphotographs mounted on slides for microscope viewing, but the system he first used, the Daguerro process, was not satisfactory. The photographs were on an opaque background and consequently the quality of the enlarged microphotograph under the microscope was poor and could not be viewed with magnification exceeding x20. In 1851 Frederick Scott Archer of Manchester introduced the collodion process which involved a very fine grain image on glass with a sensitized covering of collodion. This process, by which images in very fine detail could be recorded, was used by Dancer to start producing vastly improved microphotograph slides. So to the English scientist J.B. Dancer, belongs the credit for making the first microphotograph and for creating the microfilming process for photo- graphically preserving manuscripts, printed materials, business records and pictures. |
| Rene Dagron: Rene Prudent Patrice Dagron was born March 17, 1819 in Beauvoir, 97 miles southwest of Paris. While John Benjamin Dancer was learning the optical business, Rene was growing up in rural France. The life of a peasant was not for Rene Dagron, and at an early age he left for Paris. In the capital, he proved an apt student in physics and chemistry. As a student chemist, Rene was more than casually interested in the disclosure of Daguerrotypy on August 19, 1839. It is quite probable that while Dancer was making the first daguerrotypes ever produced in Britain, Dagron was polishing and fuming the silver plates in Paris. The introduction of the collodion wet plate and collodio-albumen dry plate provided Dagron with the processes which later were to make him famous. His first step, however, was to establish a photographic portrait studio. The Dancer microfilms were shown in Paris in 1857 and caused great excitement among the French photographers. Dagron was barely forty at this time. Not having made much of a name for himself with his portrait business, he was badly in need of a novelty to lift him out of the shadow of more popular portraitists. "Microphotography", Dagron told himself " has great possibilities - if handled right ". He gave considerable development in the introduction of microscopic photography to the novelty trade. On June 21, 1859, Dagron received the first microfilm patent ever granted. This model was the ancestor of a considerable progeny of simple microfilm viewers. Dagron had hardly begun to reap the profits of his ingenious idea before a host of competitors arose to share his market. Throughout the next few years, Dagron was to encounter problems with competitors and those who would invade on his patent. He did consider that he was the originator of the idea for incorporating the image and its viewing lens in jewels and trinkets, and that he was the first to successfully manufacture the viewers in their present minute size. The photo-micro-jewels of Dagron sold in large numbers in the French Department of the International Exhibition of 1862. In 1864 Dagron published a booklet, "Traite de Photographie Microscopique". In its thirty-six pages he describes in the minutest detail the process he follows in making microfilm positives from standard size negatives. He assumes unto himself the well-deserved honor of having created the microfilm industry, dating its birth from his 1859 patents. Meanwhile, war clouds once again were scudding across the skies of Europe. The isolation of Paris by the besieging Prussian armies was a crushing blow to French pride. Reestablishing communications with the guerilla forces fighting in the provinces became more than a duty with the people of Paris. Dagron was to play a vital role in providing Paris with news from the world outside. |
| The Pigeon Post into Paris 1870-1871: The pigeon post was in operation while Paris was besieged during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. The normal channels of communication into and out of Paris were interrupted during the four and a half months of the siege, and it was not until the middle of February 1871 that the Prussians relaxed their control of the postal and telegraph service. For an assured communication into Paris, the only successful method was by the time-honored carrier pigeon. Thousands of messages, official and private, were thus taken into and out of the besieged city. On September 2nd, 1870 it was suggested that all pigeons in Paris should be sent away to be ready to bring messages back into Paris, and that pigeons should be brought into Paris from the North of France to be ready to carry messages out of Paris. During the course of the siege, pigeons were regularly taken out of Paris by balloon. Initially, the pigeons carried by a balloon were released as soon as it landed so that Paris could be apprised of its safe passage above the Prussian lines. The pigeons were taken to their base after their arrival from Paris and when they had been fed and rested, they were ready for the return journey. Before release, they were loaded with their dispatches. The first pigeons each carried a single dispatch, which was tightly rolled and tied with a thread, and then attached to a tail feather of the pigeon. The dispatch was protected by being inserted in the quill of a goose or crow, and it was the quill which was then attached to the tail feather. Initially, the messages were written out by hand in small characters on very thin paper, but Charles Barreswil, a chemist of Tours, proposed the application of photographic methods with prints of a much reduced size and of which an unlimited number of copies could be taken. The prints were on photographic paper and varied in size, not exceeding 40mm to permit insertion in the quill. The officer directly charged with the pigeon service was De Lafollye, an amateur photographer. He was assisted by Gabriel Blaise, who was a professional photographer of Tours. This service flourished and De Lafollye was extremely proud of its success. At the Exposition Universelle of 1867 in Paris, the photographer Rene Dagron, had demonstrated a remarkable standard of microphotography, which he had described in "Traite de Photographie Microscopique". He now proposed to Post Master General Germaine Rampont-Lechin that his process should be applied to pigeon messages. Minister of Finance, Ernest Picard, declared Mssr. Dagron the "chef de service des correspondances postales photomicroscopiques". Arrangements were made for him to leave Paris by balloon, accompanied by colleagues, Albert Fernique; professor of engineering , Jean Poisot; artist and son-in-law of Dagron , Gnocchi; Dagron's assistant, and Pagano; the pilot. They departed on November 12th in the appropriately named balloons Niepce and Daguerre, but the latter, with the equipment and pigeons in it, was shot down and fell within the Prussian lines and lost. The Niepce was also shot down and landed in Prussian-held territory. Dagron and his companions just escaped capture, losing their equipment and becoming separated. It was Fernique who first reached Tours on November 18th followed by Dagron on November 21st. Dagron and his companions were to serve under De Lafollye, using Dagron's superior technique. He had sought to reproduce a page of the Moniteur in 1 sq mm; to do so required laboratory equipment and processes that were unobtainable in Tours. On December 15th, he was able to start work in earnest. Thereafter, all the dispatches were on microfilm with a reduction of more than 40 diameters. These microfilms weighed about 0.05 gm. and a pigeon would carry up to 20 of them. Whilst Blaise's messages contained a page of letter press in about 37 by 23mm, Dagron put the same information in about 11 by 6 mm, a better than three-fold improvement in lineal measure. The pigeon dispatch service was put into operation for the transmission of information from the Delegation to Paris and was opened to the public in early November. The introduction of the Dagron microfilms eased any problems there might have been in claims for transport since their volumetric requirements were very small. When the pigeon reached its particular loft in Paris, the microfilm was carefully unpacked and placed between two thin sheets of glass. The photographs were then projected by magic lantern on to a screen where the enlargement could be easily read and written down by a team of clerks. The transcribed messages were written out on forms and so delivered. Many who were involved in the pigeon post had done a valuable service to France. The pigeon fanciers, aeronauts, veterans, Mssr. Dagron and his colleagues could sum up what they had done with satisfaction. The total of all the messages they had handled, including the copies, had reached almost one hundred and fifty thousand including perhaps a million private letters and dispatches - as many words as would be contained in a library of five hundred books. |
| What is Microfilming: Microfilming, also called microphotography, consists in the reduction of images to such a small size that they cannot be read without optical assistance. This amazing photographic compression often results in a ninety-nine percent saving of space. The microfilming service is one of the most extensively used and common practices in modern reprographic science. With the advancement in the field of documentary reproduction, the function of the library is not only restricted to classification, and handling of printed materials but to documentation, in the form of microfilm, which is becoming a major factor in library science, particularly where reproduction is essential for preservation purposes. The remarkable increase in microfilming activities is due to the recognition that a large portion of books, periodicals and newspapers are deteriorating because of the poor quality of paper and print. The use of microfilming for almost seventy years has provided an excellent reproduction method for recording photographic images of library materials. Preservation of rare and deteriorating documents is considered one of the most important purposes in micro-recording. Valuable rare documents are now being microfilmed to preserve them from loss and destruction. Although the principles of microfilming have been known for over 150 years, it is only after the Second World War that the use of microfilming methods became very popular as a technique for reproducing the printed page. In the case of valuable documents, which might become damaged by constant use, a microfilm copy of it may be made and stored separately. It must be protected against loss, which would be irrecoverable in the case of valuable documents, records or rare books. The film used is safety film and if properly processed it will last longer than the originals. If possible, the microfilm copy may be given to the reader for reference purposes which not only prevents the original from damage by constant use but will also protect it from danger, such as fire, natural disaster, etc. For additional security, negatives and positives can be stored in different places; being of small bulk, it can be specially protected. Scientific estimate indicates that a negative with careful handling and storage could be preserved for about 500 years. Advanced leaders in American government and photographers have long been aware of the need for microfilming. "Time and accident are committing daily havoc on the originals (of valuable historic and state papers) deposited in our public offices. The late war has undone the work of centuries in this business. The lost cannot be recovered; but let us save what remains; not by vaults and locks which fence them in from the public eye and use in consigning them to the waste of time, but by such multiplication of copies as shall place them beyond the reach of accident." --Thomas Jefferson, February 18, 1791 "... because of the conditions of modern war against which none of us can guess the future, it is my hope that it is possible to build up an American public opinion in favor of what might be called the only form of insurance that will stand the test of time. "I am referring to duplication of records by modern processes like microfilm so that if in any part of the country original archives are destroyed a record of them will exist in some other place." --Franklin D. Roosevelt, February 13, 1942 "The microscopic uses of the photograph have merely been hinted at, never tried more than interesting experiments. Let us imagine the number of wills or mortgages liable to be destroyed, which would cause boundless litigation �A microscopic negative of which, carefully stored away� would give a document as reliable as the original. Hundreds of thousands of such negatives might be put away to be resuscitated upon the loss of the objects from which they were taken� I trust that it will be the custom to make microscopic negatives of all valuable public documents." --American Journal of Photography, 1858 "The whole archives of a nation might be packed away in a small snuff box. Had the art been known in the time of Omar, the destruction of the Alexandrian Library would not have been a total loss." --Photographic News, 1859 |
Microfilm - A Brief History:
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Chronology of Microfilm Developments:
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| Resources: John Benjamin Dancer, instrument maker, optician, and the originator of microphotography , L. L. Ardern, 1960 Guide to Microreproduction Equipmen t, Second Edition, Edited by Hubbard W. Ballou, 1962 Microforms , Joshua Been, 1999 Franklin D. Roosevelt The Man , Erich Brandeis, 1936 Early American Specs , Dr. L. D. Bronson, 1974 The Photographic Negative , Rev. W. H. Burbank, 1888 Les Deux Sieges de Paris , Album Pittoresque, MM. Darjou, et. al., 1871 Microfilming , Ralph De Sola, 1944 La Practique en Photographie , Federic Dillaye, 1896 Airlift 1870, The Balloon and Pigeon Post in the Siege of Paris , John Fisher, 1965 The Edison Album , Lawrence A. Frost, 1969 Travels in the Air , James Glaisher, 1871 The Home Life of Sir David Brewster , Gordon, 1869 The Pigeon Post Into Paris 1870-1871 , J. D. Hayhurst, O. B. E., 1970 Memorial Illustre du Premier Siege de Paris 1870-1871 , Loredan Larchey, 1871 Microfilm, A History 1839-1900 , Frederic Luther, 1959 Newspaper Microfilming , Gopal Kumar Majumdar, 1974 La Photographie Appliquee Aux Recherches Micrographiques ,A. Moitessier, 1866 A Short History of the Early American Microscopes , Donald L Padgitt, 1975 The Life of Thomas Jefferson , Henry S. Randall, 1863 A History of the Ophthalmoscope , C. Wilbur Rucker, M. D., 1971 Photomicrography in Theory and Practice , Charles Patten Shillaber, 1944 La Photographie Son Histoire , Emmanuel Sougez, 1968 Traitement Adjuvant du Strabisme , F. Terrien et Hubert, 1912 Les Voyages Extraordinaires, L'Etoile du Sud , Jules Verne, 1884 Cinq Semaines en Ballon , Jules Verne, 1885 Microscopy Hall of Fame, John Benjamin Dancer (1812-1887) , Roy Winsby, 2001 Figaro - Salon , Albert Wolff, 1887 Illustrierte Geschichte des Krieges 1870-1871 , 18-- Microfile.com, Christopher Salerno, 2000 |
| Acknowledgement: Claire Bellanti Colleen Carlton Ed Cheney Deborah Costa Edwin Dagdagan Darren Diaz Saul Dudley Gary Frerichs Michael Heim Jennifer Heanderson Jamie Jamison Perry Jaster Russell A. Johnson Theresa Johnson Yvette Johnson Peter Lacson Federico Martin Karen May Carol Nishijima Chuck Olson Lynne Olson Martin Ortiz Matt Smith Dottie Warren Ellen Watanabe Alfred Salerno Martha Salerno Chris Salerno Julie Salerno |
| Microfile.com would like to make special thanks to University of California South Regional Library Facility for providing The History of Microfilm: 1839 to the Present. Microfile has taken the liberty to change some of the above information for reproduction and business promotion. |