Imperial Camera and Manufacturing Co. (LaCrosse, WI)

Imperial View Camera

Date Introduced: 1901 ; Years Manufactured: 1901-1903
Construction: front and rear focus via rack and pinion (two gear tracks on top of base rails); double swing rear; reversing by removable back
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base; black leatherette bellows; brass hardware, lacquer finish
Sizes Offered: 5x7,6.5x8.5, 8x10 (shown), 11x14
Notes: back is similar to that on the same era Rochester Optical Co. cameras; rear swing hardware is similar to that on Century Camera Co. cameras; the front standard is also very similar to the Century View (even the label shape), but it has the classic Rochester Optical s-shaped lensboard retainers; nifty little inset plumb bob.  The Imperial Camera and Manufacturing Co. was incorporated in January, 1901 and bought out and moved by the Conley Camera Co. of Spring Grove, MN (A History of Photography in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, 1853-1930; MS Thesis, UW-LaCrosse; Edwin L. Hill; 1978;murphylibrary.uwlax.edu/digital/thesis/1978/hill.pdf).
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