[W&B] 59 Strong - a brief history of the InPHO

[David Silver]

On Sun, 21 Jan 2007 DColucci at aol.com wrote:
>
> that's David Silver's name for himself, I believe...I dont believe its a
> real organization, but you need to ask him.
>
> Best
> Dan
>
>>
>> Dan,
>> What is and how do we get to be members of "International Photographic
>> Historical Organization"? How many members are there anyway?
>>
>> Pictures ... Pictures ... Pictures  ...
>> Geary
>>

David Silver's name for himself?!  Oh gawd, I HATE when people say stuff
like that!!  Ah, it's a sticky wicket, I do what I do, for reasons that
most people never comprehend, and unfortunately the result is a lot of
misunderstanding on the part of folks who have never dealt with or met me.
Dan, absolutely no animosity meant towards you or anybody else, but since
there are so many people in this forum I truly respect or have known for
years, but also a lot of people who are more new to our world or simply
don't know, I'd like to take the opportunity to explain what the heck the
International Photographic Historical Organization thing is REALLY about.
A quick bit of VERY relevant history, if you will...

In 1984 a group of similarly minded benefactors with deep pockets in the
Sunnyvale/San Jose area of California ("silicon valley") wanted to
establish a museum of art, science, and technology.  Part of their plan
called for a major section of the museum dedicated to photography.  They
approached a number of old-timers in that area who were collecting cameras
and preserving the history of photography and invited them to consult.
Instead, those older collectors (Gerry and Olivia Kissin in particular)
recommended a number of younger people who they felt would bring more
energy and creativity to the project.  I was one of those young people.  A
couple of us had telephone conferences with the planners, got a strong
sense of what they were doing, and realized they were hoping each section,
with the guidance of its selected consultants, would develop on its own
with a distinct personality and set of values.

There were originally eight of us when we got started on it, and we went
waaaaaaaaay beyond what the planners were hoping for.  By 1985 we had
created a charter, produced an extensive list of guidelines and goals,
elected officers, and incorporated a non-profit group called the
International Photographic Historical Organization ("InPHO").  My initial
contribution to the group was more energetic than structural, mainly
because I was such a headstrong optimist who tended to aim for the stars,
but I was chosen the first recording secretary for my writing and research
skills.  The organizational structure was almost entirely thanks to one of
our founders, who was finishing a degree in museum studies, and the
charter he devised for us served a double purpose as a requirement for
completing his own program.

When we brought all this to the planners later in the year, they were
flabbergasted.  No other section had yet to provide the most basic
workable ideas or suggestions, while we had established an entirely
self-sufficient organization.  At the time, my greatest motivation for
pursuing this endeavor was the slow agonizing death of the local camera
collecting club, the Bay Area Photographica Association ("BAPA"), where I
had recently been elected the president because they hoped a little
youthful exuberance would help.  Attrition, the elder nature of the
majority of participants, and general flagging interest was threatening to
drive BAPA into extinction, and I saw this museum project as a wonderful
opportunity to energize the club through affiliation.  Never happened.

In 1987 InPHO (as mandated in our charter) had its second elections, I was
maintained as recording secretary, and I was also elected as treasurer (a
job I truly despised, but I was good at it).  Unfortunately, the planners
told us the project was off, nobody was in agreement on ANY aspect of the
museum, and they didn't expect the idea to resurface any time soon.  So
there we were, a fully realized non-profit historical organization, with a
"membership" of about twenty at the time, without a home or any other
affiliation.  Well, we WERE doing some good, a LOT of people were finding
us for various reasons and we were helping them, and we HAD provided a
wide variety of vintage gear for a major exhibit, so we hung together for
a couple more years thinking we'd keep on keeping on.

In 1988 our president dropped out to leave the country, the vice president
got married and didn't want to participate any longer, and the "board of
directors" asked me to serve as president.  Months later, when we had our
third election, I was chosen president, recording secretary, AND treasurer
(yuck!).

The end of 1989 saw the final death throes of BAPA, it was clear that the
InPHO founders had no interest in turning our group into another broad
based camera collectors club (other groups in the USA were dying about
then), and several people didn't want to be strapped to the program any
longer.  So in 1990 it was decided to drop the non-profit status (for
which I am eternally grateful, since the paper work was such a pain in the
rear!), the founders dispersed, and I was left with ownership of the InPHO
name and charter.

Since I was indeed president at that time, and, a-hem, nobody else was
elected after me, I decided to just call myself president forever after
that.  It's extraordinarily important that somebody wears a title and
somebody bears responsibility as a figurehead.  It is NOT
self-aggrandizement, but order and expediency.  And I've carried on the
intended goals and purpose, pretty much by myself, but NOT always alone,
for the past seventeen years.  InPHO is not now, and was never intended to
be, a member organization or club.  The primary goal was to provide the
best first resource for information on vintage cameras and the history of
photography, and that's exactly what it does.  It was also primarily
(although certainly not exclusively) intended for the mundane population,
ie. not camera collectors and established photohistorians, but the folks
out there who are unsophisticated in the ways of photography.  It was
never about preaching to the choir, but about opening new doors and
inviting people in, and that is most definitely an area in which the vast
majority of camera collectors and clubs have routinely dropped the ball.
Do I personally gain anything from it?  Probably, but in mostly obscure
ways, and it's hard to say what or how much.  For the most part InPHO has
been a labor of love, an honest service-providing entity, and a way to
popularize collecting and preserving the history of photography.  The
truth is that I'm horribly out of pocket with the whole endeavor, and
that's the main reason why the web site sits virtually unchanged for
months on end (I have neither the time or money to work on it regularly),
but I've never denied a single person the time or service InPHO promises.
While it is not a membership organization, I currently have a group of
about fifteen trusted affiliate experts (one prominent in this forum)
around the world who I turn to when somebody needs local help.

Therefore, I want to make it very clear, InPHO is *not* another "name" for
David Silver!  If you contact David Silver, as collector or friend or
expert or whatever, you get David Silver, warts and all.  If you contact
InPHO, you get help and service and direction that often points well away
from David Silver, and that also means turning away amazing opportunities
in order to maintain the integrity of InPHO's goals and purpose.  It's now
twenty-one years since the creation of InPHO, and I'm still aiming for the
stars.  If people out there don't "get it", perhaps I can use camera shows
as a relevant analogy.  For those of you who have been around long enough,
you'll remember how big and special camera shows were.  Before the
internet, collectors would travel from all over the place, and tables
would be full of fascinating and valuable things.  Now the shows, with a
few notable exceptions, have died away or been reduced to "used cameras"
affairs.  Why?  The single biggest excuse collectors give for not going to
shows is that it isn't worth the expense because they either won't sell
anything or they won't find anything.  Well, they're wrong, I refuse to
believe that's what shows were ever about.  I go to shows for the people,
NEVER just for the cameras or any hope of profit or material gain.  No, to
see people, to make that honest human contact, to share stories and dreams
and life in general.  That, in a nutshell, explains InPHO.  It's not about
any profit or gain, and it's not even about the cameras per se, but only
about the people, their needs, sharing the history, and aspirations.
Look, it actually breaks my heart when I think about what I COULD do if I
had the time and money.  In an ideal world, some anonymous benefactor
would drop fifty to sixty thousand bucks in my lap, tell me to walk away
from work for at least a year, and do nothing but work on the web site.
It's pathetic right now, an introductory page, a contents page, and then a
bunch of my own published articles (the easiest things to transpose into
HTML code since I already had them word processed, so, what the heck, I
toot my horn about them), plus pages for the Internet Directory of Camera
Collectors ("IDCC").  Folks, I have over a whopping 120 more prospective
pages to upload, all outlined, cross-referenced, and carefully structured
in a monster three ring binder, waiting to be typed and transposed into
HTML!  But, let's be real, it ain't gonna happen any time soon, so InPHO
is now, and probably will be for years to come, a matter of service, but a
service for which I am gladly and proudly the center, as long as I have
the resources and the support of others to do it.

David Silver?  Ah, he's just another dumb pug, love 'im or hate 'im, and
hardly worth a second thought.  But InPHO, that's something very, very
special.

Take a look here if you want to see more of what it's about:

 http://www.photographyhistory.com

If anybody wishes to create a link to InPHO from their own site, PLEASE
let me know so I can reciprocate if possible.  However, as a helpful
reference for those who are already specifically involved in camera
collecting, I more aggressively request that you link to the webpage about
the IDCC at:

 http://www.photographyhistory.com/idccinfo.html

If you link to both, well, bless you for that because you'd be doing
everybody a nice favor.

Thanks for listening, and we now return you to your regularly scheduled
broadcast...

Best wishes,

David Silver--President
International Photographic Historical Organization
E-mail: silver at well.com  Telephone: (415) 681-4356
Webpage location: http://www.well.com/user/silver/