Who was the “shutter bug,” Alfred James Bowers?

By Alan Mueller

An abundance of post card size photo’s in the Greece historian's office file have the
notation, “Bower’s Collection”. This cryptic note always aroused my interest in
learning more about this basically uniform cache. A small amount of research and
some comments from long time Historic Society members revealed that the photo’s
were taken by one man, Albert James Bowers Sr. Born near Twinkenham, England
about 1878, he married a local girl by the name of Annie Mae in the early 1900’s.
Bowers, along with his wife and five year old son, immigrated to the U.S.A. in 1915
just after the start of World War I. They settled in Rochester and Albert obtained an
entry job as a janitor at Eastman Kodak Park. They rented a Kodak house on Dewey
Avenue only blocks from work. One year earlier Eastman Kodak had introduced the
new Autographic, bellows, folding camera. There was a clever innovation on the
back of this camera. A small rectangular flap could be raised and a metal stylus
removed from a clip enabled the user to inscribe a small notation such as date and
location on the undeveloped film.

By the following year Mr. Bower’s decided he wanted one of the Autographic models
(several styles were available). A model 1A could be had for the list price of $8.00 to
$10.00 (not including the employee discount). For the next four or five years Bowers
would snap hundred’s of photo’s all over his neighborhood of the family’s newly
adopted country. He ventured to Irondequoit, Sea Breeze Park. Take an excursion
boat to Glen Haven on the bay. He went into the city and visited Maplewood,
Highland and Genesee Valley Park’s. Closer at hand he and Annie Mae and young
Alfred Junior ventured to Ontario Beach Park or take a ride on the Manitou Trolley,
with stops along the way. Every outing produced more photo’s to his collection and
found their way into an album. While many duplicate copies would be sent to the
family and friends left behind in “The Old Country” to give them a glimpse of how
the Bowers were “getting on” in the new country. The years just before and during
the first World War would see a great change in Greece. In a few short years Greece
would forever be changed from a farming and rural community to a fast growing area
of street after street of tract homes beginning in the early nineteen twenties and
continuing to the present.

We are so fortunate to have this amazing collection of about one hundred images.
Part of the collection being made available by Alfred Bowers Junior for use in the
Society's publication “Eight Miles Along The Shore” by Virginia Tomkiewicz and
Shirley Cox Husted. The balance of the collection was donated by Alfred Juniors
widow Loretta.

The following collage of Bower’s photo’s is just a tiny sampling from this
important treasure trove.
 “Everything old is new again.”
1
The digital camera with its date and time feature isn't new. Kodak
had a date and time feature in its 1914 -1934 Autographic Camera.
This feature is shown in photos #4, 7 & 9. For more on this
photographer, see page 5.
1. Alfred J. Bowers Sr.
2. Autographic Camera 8
3. Elmgrove Bridge
4. Manitou Beach 1917
5.Kids Camp
6. Hay Rake - B. Coyn
7. Moving Day Winter 1916
8. Sleigh Ride - General Store, A small sampling
SW Corner Ridge & Mt Read of photos from
9. Kodak water tower 1921
the “Bowers’
Collection”
9

4
5

Photos, Data supplied by Alan Mueller,

Greece Historian's Office, Greece Historical Society