From the spring of 1945 until 1948, Thelma O. Davis owned and operated Thelma’s portrait studio on Main Street over the Belk’s Department Store, at the corner of NC18 and US21 (where Alleghany Historical Museum is located, today.)
After completing a course in portraiture at New York Institute of Photography and working for a time in other studios, Thelma returned to Sparta to venture out on her own. She and her assistant did all types of portraiture from 2 x 3 wallet size to 8 x 10 family groups and the like. All printing, mounting, etc. was done in the studio except for Kodak rolls, which were sent out for developing.
Color portraits were not available at that time. If anyone who wanted a color portrait, it was done by hand, using Marshalls Photo Oils.
A display case, on Main Street, featured the “Portrait of the Week.” Many families were able to obtain memorable keepsakes as a result of this business.
Why you should save your negatives
At first we present the image of a print from the files at the Alleghany Historical Society of former Sparta Mayor, Glenn Nichols, made by Thelma Davis at her portrait studio in 1947.
It morphs into an image Imaging Specialists, Inc. made from our scan of Thelma’s original 4″x5″ negative.
The print has faded and lost sharpness over the last seven decades, but the negative has retained an amazing amount of detail.
This exceptional photograph, by Thelma, of Dr. Doughton was made from our scan of her oversized (Approx. 5″x7″) negative.
Portraits in this post were all used in recent episodes of Alleghany Memories.
Thelma’s priceless collection, which she has donated to the Historical Society, consists of multiple exposures from around 400 portrait sessions in the 1940s. It will be part of a digital image archive.
