Autumn Years Fall 2023

AUGUST SEMMENDINGER Wet Plate Camera Maker

A ugust Semmendinger was born in 1820, and along with his wife and daugh ter, immigrated to the United States in 1849 and lived in New York City. While there is no information about August Semmendinger’s occupation when he first came to the United States, what is known is that by 1859, he began designing and manufacturing wet plate cameras. During his life, he was awarded four United States patents related to camera making. In the early 1870s, Semmendinger moved to Fort Lee, New Jersey, where he would live and make cameras for the remainder of his life. Most of the Semmendinger cameras still in existence come from this period.

In his time, Semmendinger was a highly respected camera maker. The Decem ber 1873 issue of The Photographic Times (Vol. III, No. 36) states: “August Sem mendinger, proprietor of the Fort Lee Camera Box Factory, is constantly receiving new testimonials in favor of his photographic apparatus. The multiplying and celebrated Roller Camera Boxes are his specialty.” Semmendinger died in Fort Lee on August 6, 1885. For a time following his death, his sons carried on his camera making business, but by the early 1900s, with the invention of film, wet plate cameras were no longer utilized in popular photography and the Semmendinger family stopped making cameras. Over time, no Semmendinger cameras

existed in the family’s possession. The only artifacts that the family held from the camera business were some old letterheads. In the mid-1990s, Paul Semendinger, August’s great

great grandson, began extensive research on this aspect of his family’s history. Paul secured copies of each of August Semmendinger’s patents and through his work with camera experts and enthusiasts was able to learn about and acquire some authentic Semmendinger cameras. Among camera enthusiasts, Semmendinger Cameras retain great value for their quality workmanship and design. There are Semmendinger cameras as part of the permanent collections in museums such as the J. Paul Getty Museum, The George Eastman House and the Smithsonian Museum.

FALL 2023 I AUTUMN YEARS 49