One of the world’s first
candid photographers took
these round pictures of
Marietta in 1888 and 1889.
Using an ingenious button-
hole camera, Horace Engle
snapped these shots thru
the front of his coat, by
pulling a string in his
pocket.
Engle, about 27 years old
at the time he took these
photos, was a man ahead of
his time in both photo-
graphy and other fields: he
invented mining techniques,
hydroelectric schemes, and
worked in Thomas Edison's
laboratory, besides taking
candid photos S50 years
before the invention of the
35 mm camera allowed
anyone to do it. (Today's
standard 35mm was origin-
ally called a ‘‘miniature’’
camera, and often used
surreptiously—people who
were used to huge box
cameras didn’t even recog-
nize them for what they
were.)
Engle’s camera had a lens
designed to look like a
button. The camera was
hidden behind.
Engle’s work was recently
discovered by professor
Edward Leos of Penn State,
who was shown some of
Engle’s photos by a student
Page 16—SUSQUEHANNA TIMES
Horace Engle
~ He lived in Marietta and
took pictures of the town
through his button
in one of his photography
classes, Jeanette Engle, a
grand-niece of * Horace.
Jeanette found Horace's
negatives in a corncrib.
Horace Engle’'s father
was a noted scientific horti-
culturalist Henry Engle. His
mother, Lizze Musser
Engle, was a writer. The
Engles were members of the
“River Brethren’’ (Brethren
in Christ) Church.
Despite his inventiveness,
intelligence, and family
background, Horace Engle
was something of a failure.
Never married, he spent his
best years pursuing a series
of unsuccessful business
ventures in attempting to
implement his schemes.
These forrays were conduct-
ed around the Roanake, VA
area, where he moved after
living in Marietta. He died
in obscurity at Bangor, PA
in 1949, aged 88.
Thanks largely to profes-
sor Leos’ research on Engle,
his early photographic work
has now been recognized.
The Museum of Modern Art
in New York has added
several of his prints to its
collection. Leos will soon
publish a book about Engle,
containing about 100 of his
photos.
Market Street, 1889:
the sign says ‘‘Times Printing Office.”
Temperance meeting in Marietta.
Engle was very involved in this
in the year 1888.
Horacg Engle
April 25, 1979