R.
Dempster
Omaha, Nebraska
The Ak-Sar-Ben View Camera
Buchanan's
Complete Illustrated Catalogue, W.P. Buchanan (Philadelphia, PA),
1893, p.43
R. Dempster
catalog, 1897,
p. 39
5 x 7"
Bottom
Top
Label of seller, celluloid, top of rear standard: "The Obrig Camera Co.
/ Photo Materials / 163 Broadway, N.Y."
5 x 8"
Bottom
Top
10 x 12",
with probably the original carrying case Date Introduced: - ;
Years Manufactured: c. 1893 - c.1897 I call this camera the
Ak-Sar-Ben because I first ran into it in the Robert Dempster Co.,
Omaha, NE catalog, c.1897 in which it is the Ak-Sar-Ben. The Robert Dempster Co.
is only known from a few references. He places a small
advertisement in the 1891 Annual of Anthony's Bulletin (see references
below), ads, p.62. This ad gives an address of "411 Court Ave.,
Des Moines, IA". A "R. Dempster" catalog, c.1897, that looks to
have been xeroxed in the 1970's, gives the address as Omaha, NE, as do
several newspaper ads that come up in a google search.
Subsequently, I found the camera in the 1893 Buchanan catalog, named The
Rochester View. Since I was calling this the Ak-Sar-Ben for 40 or
maore years, I am going to continue that name, despite the possibility
that the 1893 Rochester View name may have chronological precedence over
the 1897 Ak-Sar-Ben name.
The large,
wooden side plates are quite distinctive and
unique, as are the folded brass springs holding the ground glass frame. At least five examples exist, one of
which was spray-painted black, which is resisting being restored to a
varnished state. In case you were wondering, Ak-Sar-Ben
is the name of a certain state spelled
backwards. In the W.P. Buchanan 1893 catalog, the camera is
identified as the Rochester View Camera. None of the
Rochester-related camera manufacturing companies, i.e., Rochester
Optical Co., Rochester Camera Mfg. Co., etc. (see
http://www.piercevaubel.com/cam/roc.htm), ever advertised such a
camera as theirs. Mayber Buchanan made a mistake, but maybe he
knew something. It may be significant that the Dempster catalog
featured three other view camera, all manufactured by the Rochester
Optical Co. The catalog also featured what looks like the full
array of R.O.C. premo cameras, and the only other cameras of any kind in
the catalog are Kodaks. The relatively common and long lived view camera called
The Rochester View does not appear in catalogs until 1895 (Rochester
View Variation 1), in a catalog from the Rochester Camera Mfg. Co., and continued to
be manufactured by various successors to R.C.M.Co. until 1918.
The history of Rochester, NY camera companies is that in 1891, two Carlton brothers,
both of whom worked for the Rochester Optical Co., split into
two rival camera manufacturers, W.F. Carlton retaining control of the
Rochester Optical Co. and H.B. Carlton starting the Rochester Camera
Mfg. Co. Since this Rochester View Camera (identical to the 1897
Ak-Sar-Ben) was advertised in 1893, two years before the Rochester
View Variation 1 was advertised, it may very well be that it was
made by H.B. Carlton and the
R.C.M.Co. prior to the more conventionally metal strutted Variation
1. As normal for cameras of the 1800s, knowing
the history of this design is hampered by too few entries in too few
catalogs. Specifically, the earliest non-Rochester Optical Co.
catalog that I have owned has been from 1895, leaving 3-4 years of H.B.
Carlton products unknown. In this case, one of the catalogs,
Buchanan 1893, is on the internet from the kind folks at Internet
Archive (
https://ia904705.us.archive.org/29/items/gri_33125013853631/gri_33125013853631.pdf),
so I hesitate to add it to the catalogs that I have online that I have
personally owned and scanned (
http://www.piercevaubel.com/cam/catalogs.htm). Likewise, the
1897 Dempster catalog is not included in my online catalogs because it
is a reprint from the 1970s, for which I do not have the right to
reproduce. References:
The Internation Annual of Anthony's Photographic Bulletin", Vo. IV,
June, 1891, E. & H.T. Anthony & Co. (New York, NY), ads p.62 (Dempster
Co. store only, not the Ak-Sar-Ben camera)
Back to Miscellaneous Camera Companies
Construction: front focus
via rack and pinion (two gear tracks on top of base rails);
single swing; reversing by removable back
Materials: mahogany, brass, black
fabric bellows
Sizes Offered: 5x7; 5x8; 6 ½x8 ½; 8x10;
10x12; 11x14; 14x17; 17x20
Notes:
Buchanan's Complete
Illustrated Catalogue, W.P. Buchanan (Philadelphia, PA), 1893,
p.43
Hand Cameras, Kodaks and Supplies, R.
Dempster (Omaha, NE), 1897, p. 39
