Looking thru Lewey's Lens 100 Years Ago

In looking back over my past blogs, I see that I have included my email address but not my postal address. If you would like to buy my book and are not in close proximity to the sellers listed below, please send a check or M.O.  for $17.95 to
                                    Marlin Thomas
                                    8264 Eden Dr
                                    King George, VA 22485
and I will mail you an autographed copy postpaid.

The book is currently being sold at
     The Packwood House Museum and Bookstore, Lewisburg, PA

     The Union County Historical Society, Lewisburg, PA

     The Thomas T. Taber Museum of the Lycoming County Historical Society, Williamsport, PA.

I am also happy to announce that a review of my book appears in the Winter 2011 issue of the Bucknell Magazine, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA.

This is my first post of 2011, and I am just coming out of my winter hibernation. It is still cold in Virginia, but I see scant signs of Spring on the horizon. I am working my next book which is based on letters that my brother wrote home from the Far East in WWII. They give a portrait of a soldier's life (and death) in the big war. John was killed on Easter Sunday, 1945 in the Phillipines Islands during the mop up operation of residual Japanese soldiers on the island. Prior to that time, he wrote 192 letters to his Mother and family. I will provide a preview in coming posts. In the meantime, stay warm.            M.T.

Looking thru Lewey's Lens 100 Years Ago - continued

Spring Garden, PA

Even the name. Spring Garden, suggests a state of tranquility. And it was just that for Lewey as a young man. The village had most anything one would need in the early 1900's. The covered bridge was the focal point with the grist mill on the other side of South Creek as seen through the trees. Before crossing the bridge, there was George Sypher's General Store on the right. People came here from all around White Deer Valley to mill their grain, to buy goods from Sypher's Store and to mingle with friends and neighbors that they didn't see everyday.
Crossing the bridge and turning right would take one by the mill and then on up to the base of the mountain where many folks lived. Lewey was born about two miles up this road. He took many photographs in and around Spring Garden. Two of them are shown in this post.
Thanks for reading this blog.   M.T.

Looking thru Lewey's Lens 100 Years Ago - continuation

Here are some images which represent the photographs in my book. Most pictures in the book are accompanied by a story and the stories as a whole are loosely connected. Thanks for reading my blog.

M.T.



Front cover of my book of Lewey's Photographs. The automobile is Lewey's 1914 Model T Ford.






Early Wheels 1910
Lewey will soon marry into this Reaser family. His future in-laws, Ben and Mary Ellen Reaser, look on as Lewey composes this memorable photographs of Reasers and visitors.



Looking thru Lewey's Lens 100 Years Ago

I am a writer at this point in my life (I also build Windsor chairs). Actually, I have done many things in my life but more about that in a later post. Right now, I want to talk about my latest book, "Looking thru Lewey's Lens 100 Years Ago." Lewey Thomas was my Father and an early 20th Century photographer who was virtually unknown outside his native White Deer Valley in central Pennsylvania. In 1903, he bought a Century Grand 5" x 7" view camera with an f-8 Bausch and Lomb lens. Eventually, he would turn professional, but he is remembered most for his photographs taken early on before any studio work when he was free to travel the countryside with his camera and tripod in a horse drawn buggy. His photographs are of the  villages and the people he knew. I have chosen sixty-eight of his images for this book, all but two taken between 1906 and 1912. They are a delight, and I have had the book expertly printed and case bound at theWalworth Print Group in Marceline, MO on fine gloss paper. They illustrate that fine photography has been around for a very long time, long before the digital age. I would be happy to discuss my book with you and/or sell you one for $17.95 postpaid. I'll have some samples in my next post.   Marlin Thomas, carma1953@gmail.com