Boston Studio History

The Boston Studio was established when Harvey Boston purchased the Reynolds Studio in 1897, however the earliest ledger entry is dated October, 1893. The name "Reynolds" is also written on the inside cover of the earliest ledger, which dates from October, 1893 to February, 1901. This indicates that Mr. Boston either worked for the Reynolds Studio prior to purchasing the business, or he continued to use the Reynold�s Ledger after purchasing the business. At the time the negatives were sorted and catalogued, it was noted that one box of negatives had the name "Reynolds" written on the outside. One negative has "Reynolds" clearly written in the margin. There are only nine negatives from the 1893-1897 time period (when the Reynolds Studio was in existence) that can be cross-matched to a particular ledger entry and identified as to family name and date. The oldest surviving negative in the collection was taken October 21, 1893. Harvey L. Boston operated the Boston Studio from 1897 until his death in 1927. Upon his death, Mrs. Boston and her daughters, Floy and Edith, operated the Boston Studio until 1945 when son-in-law, A.C. (Prof) Hurlbert and his wife Floy Boston took over the business. They sold the business in 1973, to Fred and John McVay, who continued operation of the Boston Studio until 1979, when the equipment and building were sold at auction.

The negatives and ledgers became the property of the David City Area Foundation in 1979 and were moved to the basement of a local bank. In 1996, the collection was moved to the newly constructed Hruska Memorial Library. In 2002, the Boston Studio Project Committee was formed to oversee the procedures and set the standards and policies for the preservation of the collection. The Committee consists of two members each from the David City Area Foundation, the Butler County Genealogy Society and two staff members from the Hruska Memorial Library.

In 2004, a generous donation from the Tom Morgan family (in honor of his parents, Merle & Helen Morgan), allowed the project to purchase much-needed archival storage supplies, computer, photographic scanner and imaging software. A donation from Fred McVay, a previous owner of the Boston Studio, provided funds for a frost-free deepfreeze to house the rapidly deteriorating nitrate negatives. The Hruska Memorial Library currently provides office and storage space for the project. The labor for this project has been volunteer and includes over 3,000 hours to type the ledger databases and clean, sort and organize the negatives. Over 2,000 hours of volunteer time were dedicated to scanning negatives in the past year and the scanning process will continue throughout the next several years. In 2005, the Project received a grant from the Nebraska Library Commission to take part in the Nebraska Memories Project. The Nebraska Memories website will feature a variety of digital images from various Nebraska collections and is scheduled to be operational in 2006. Private donations and Keno funds have also provided income for the operation of this project. Income from the sale of photos is used to replenish office supplies and insure the preservation and upkeep of the collection. Ideal archival storage costs $1.00 per negative, ensuring the need for continual fund-raising.

In 2005, the ownership of the Boston Studio Collection was transferred to the Thorpe Opera House Foundation. The Boston Studio Collection will be housed at the Thorpe Opera House/Horacek Heritage Center following its renovation. A description of The Thorpe Foundation, the Horacek Heritage Center and The Thorpe Renovation Project can be found at www.thethorpe.com.