This 5”x7” glass plate negative was created using a camera that specifically divided the plate into sections. This allowed multiple exposures on a single plate and was especially popular with frugal itinerant photographers aiming to get as many photographs as they could out of one plate.

Ricks is believed to have started his home photography business sometime in the 1910s after making his living as a farmer in years prior.

This collection contains 31 5"x7" dry plate glass negatives created by Thomas J. Ricks of Franklin County, NC and 12 tintypes.

All of the photographs created by Ricks are portraits thought to have been taken in the Franklin County, NC vicinity.
__________
PhC.81.31
From the Thomas J. Ricks Photograph Collection, State Archives; Raleigh, NC.