The negatives of the Winkelmann Collection span nearly nine decades and document not only Brenham, but also the surrounding communities in Washington and Lee counties, including Burton, Giddings, Salem, New Wehdem, Chappell Hill, Independence, and Washington-on-the-Brazos. The collection contains over 300,000 negatives, approximately 15,000 of which are glass plates. The majority of the glass negatives are individual and group portraits of the area's residents (mostly on 5 x 7 plates), including assemblies of families, schoolmates and athletes, church members and confirmation classes, and wedding parties, among others. A smaller percentage of the glass negatives (on 6.5 x 8.5 and 8 x 10 plates), still numbering over a thousand, visually document important local institutions of the 1910s, 20s, and 30s such as the annual Maifest, Blue Bell Creameries (a.k.a. Brenham Creamery Co.), Brenham High School and Blinn College. Furthermore, these on-site negatives documents commercial and municipal building construction and other architectural characteristics of the area; agricultural activities, equipment, and facilities; local oil production; car collisions and structure fires; community festivals such as Maifest; local retailers' sales floors and storefronts; gravesites and funerals; residential homes and early automobiles; and all the people who inhabited these various locations. W.S. and Norman Winkelmann continued what was already a rich and extensive documentation of Washington County. The film negatives they produced (which total close to 300,00 negatives in modified 5 x 7 and 120 formats, in both black and white and color) roughly continue F.C. Winkelmann's ratio of portrait work to on-site photography. This portion of the collection is not listed on the finding aid and is stored off site. Please contact repository for further information.
