Mr Sternstein's Photos...

In June 2001, we had a letter from Allen Sternstein, whose father photographed and processed all the class photos from the 1940s to the 1970s, produced by the "J. & S. Sternstein" company in Glasgow. The company was founded by his great-grandfather, Jachiel Sternstein, and his grandfather Sigmund, from Hamburg.

Allen had found our web site while searching the Internet for references to the name "Sternstein". He'd looked at our photo from Stuart Tod in 1969, but we also have Jimmy Brown's photo from 20 years earlier, showing the Sternstein name, and most other class photos we've had from Former Pupils were taken by the company.

"Your students and staff may be interested to know that the photo would have sold for two shillings and six pence (12.5p) in 1969 and was manufactured using the same production and finishing methods that my grandfather used in the early 20th Century.

"The camera he used at that time was a wooden camera with bellows and a wooden tripod - the film was mounted in a wooden casette and he would have had a black heavy cloth over the back of the camera, under which he would have removed a cover to expose the film to make the picture.

"Shortly after the photo was taken, my father updated the product range to include colour photography. This change was substantial, as it heralded the end of the company's manufacturing and finishing operation after nearly 100 years of photo artistry. I can well remember my father agonising over the rise price from 2/6d to 7/6p (37.5p)!

"Many schools across the central belt and south of Scotland have photographs by J & S Sternstein and have displays on show in local museums. The business began in 1873 and actually established itself during the first World War when soldiers visited the studio to have their photo taken before going off to war.

"During the second World War, there were severe restrictions on the availability of photographic materials for civil use, so the business could not continue until the war ended.

"The letters in the company name (J & S) stood for Jachiel and Sigmund, the names of my great-grandfather and grandfather. They came to Scotland in the mid 1800's from Hamburg and settled in Glasgow.

"Well, I hope the information above will be of some interest and I wish you all success in your Web activities."

"Yes. It would have been my father that took your photo in the 50's and 60's. It is quite amazing how many people from their 40's onwards still have photos in good condition.

"In the 30's my grandfather was made an associate of the Royal Photographic Society (a rare honour for a Scotsman) for his photographic skills and work quality. There were only a few people given that award in the country.

"I still actually have the article from the newspaper and the certificate. He was a photo artist and the quality was built to last. They did make photographs to last 100 years in those days - but of course they had to wait 100 years to prove the point!

"He also was commissioned to photograph the Rennie Mackintosh Glasgow Art College and I still have the portfolio. I also have sepia-tone (the brown colour photos) school group photos taken from 1879 and they are still in excellent condition - it is some of these that are in the museum in Biggar.

"During the First War, and on active service, he took his camera to the battlefields and I still have the photos and the negatives."