About Roscoe and Bessie

_{Pearl and Elizabeth "Bessie" Roscoe}

Because of Roscoe's occupation as a printer, writer, and newspaper publisher his reason for taking all these photographs seems obvious.One is inclined to believe that he took the pictures to be used in The News. But that is not precisely the case.

Roscoe ran a "hard-type" printshop. All the headlines were set with reusable type fonts. After the introduction of the Linotype in 1916 the newspaper articles were typed by this machine where each piece of data was cast into a lead font about 3 or 4 inches long (called slugs), an eighth of an in thick. That data had to be placed into a iron form for each page of the newspaper. All of the data had to be proof- read before it was locked into a page. Here we're talking about a great deal of work.

All photographs that ran in The News had to be etched on a metal plate before they could be printed. Just like any type of photograph a series of small dots makes the photograph visible to the naked eye. This required a special process to make the pictures visible.

The process was costly. They photos had to be sent to an engraver. When I was small we used an engraver located in Lorain, Ohio. A one-time photograph for a weekly newspaper that was sold for a nickle a copy would prohibit Roscoe from becoming a photojournalist during his lifetime.

But Roscoe and Bessie had great vision. He knew, and understood, the technology. She had a sound sense of business and marketing. And they worked as a team.

The photographs were used in three particular ways . Some were taken to be used as penny postal cards. He sent them out to be tinted and printed. Others (mainly of accidents) must have been used for insurance and/or legal purposes.And lastly. While diaries and other written accounts of family, friends and community are certainly valuable, pictures are invaluable.

Bessie marketed the tinted postcards and various other materials in her News Gift Shop on Liberty Avenue.

Most of his works can be found on tinted postcards. I've seen many of them. I have but one. They're wonderful. When I look at any of his photographs I feel rather fortunate. My Grandfather and Grandmother passed into the hands of God in my second year of life (1946). So I never knew them. But they gave me an ability to see through their eyes. And they gave others an opportunity to see a little town in Ohio develop. What a legacy.

I sincerely thank them for that opportunity.

Richard Neale Tarrant - Vermilion Views Online