Picture Perfect; Etched in Glass

The oldest pictures of Sauk County date from the 1850s but are rare. By the turn of the 20th century, photography was much more common although still a relatively cumbersome process. One way to take a photograph during this period was with a glass plate negative, a thin sheet of glass with dry chemicals on it that would react to light. In Prairie du Sac, two friends, Frank S. Eberhart and Christian C. Steuber, each began taking photographs of their area around 1900 with glass plates. Their fragile creations survived and have been completely digitized by the Sauk Prairie Area Historical Society (SPAHS), giving us a glimpse of everyday life more than 100 years ago.