Willie Grimm’s Photos
Documenting the History
of Lancaster County, NE
(click
here for the Steinhausen index page)
These are photos by my
Great-Great-Great Uncle Willie Grimm.
Willie was born in 1883 and died in 1914 as a result of an industrial
accident at Cushman Motor Works in Lincoln, NE, leaving behind his wife Hazel
and five month old daughter Ruth.
Willie’s 4” x 5” glass negatives were left with his sister Anna (Grimm)
Steinhausen, then passed on through the generations to my grandfather Mark
Steinhausen. These negatives have been
mostly unseen and untouched for last 90 years.
The pictures depict scenes around Lincoln and rural Lancaster
County. Willie, his father and his
brother all worked around the railroad industry and many photos include
trains. Stories say that Willie could
play every musical instrument and often filled in for the Cushman Park Band.
I have attempted to
reproduce the negatives into working photographs, originally utilizing my
darkroom, later using a digital camera and a light board. It is quite tedious, plus handling the
negatives must be done very carefully so they are not damaged.
There are about 40
negatives altogether. I have included a
few of them below. My goal is to do a
high-resolution scan of the negatives once and for all, and put them back into
permanent storage. Unfortunately the
expense of a high res scan is prohibitive at this time. I am exploring various alternatives for
preservation and reproduction.
Engine
102 at Union Station
The
Loos brothers plowing,
Steinhausen
farm in the background
The
Reddish family making haystacks
A.F.
Steinhausen’s cattle, in the background
are
the Wesley Chapel and Dist #103 School
Rokeby,
Nebraska in 1908.
Unknown
threshing crew