In the historic photographs on display at the Bona Thompson Memorial Center in Irvington, there’s a palpable sense of melancholy in the Indianapolis landscape and its residents.
In some of the portraits, women in their ankle-length gowns pose on dying trees in the middle of the White River. Almost all of the subjects carry a pensive expression on their faces.
But the images also feel serene, just like the crisp, stillness of the river.
Left: Emrichsville (Riverside) Dam on Oct. 17, 2025. (Credit: Ted Somerville for Mirror Indy) Right: Two elegant ladies sitting on a snag south of the newly built dam. (Credit: Irvington Historical Society)
Other photos in the exhibit show the interiors of buildings that are now long gone. In one of them, two toddlers hold hands on the grounds of Indianapolis City Hospital that, unbeknownst to them, would some day be a part of IU-Indianapolis’ campus.
These black and white images were captured by Osbert Reid Sumner over 125 years ago. The then twenty-something amateur photographer captured the city from his flamboyant perspective as a new resident.
Sumner was a Canadian immigrant who moved to Indianapolis in the mid-1890s to live with his widowed aunt. He also worked as a bookkeeper for the grocery store, Schnull & Co.
His colleagues gifted him a camera when he resigned from the job.
In the 1960s, a couple, Richard and Colleen Wilson, moved into Sumner’s home at 68 N. Ritter Ave. in Irvington and found a wooden crate filled with his 4-by-5-inch glass negatives underneath their stairway. They donated them to Steve Barnett and the Irvington Historical Society in 2012.
All 338 of them were covered in dust but a majority remained intact. They were safely stored until the organization was able to get a scanner.
Between 2017-2018, Steven Schmidt, a former board member at the Irvington Historical Society, scanned the negatives.
But, there was one problem: none of the photos were labeled.
Paula Schmidt, a former volunteer archivist, posted some of the scanned images on Facebook to see if anyone had any information. It caught the attention of Deedee Davis.
Census records, Sanborn maps, diary entries, trees and even obstructed views of historic buildings were the tools at Davis’ disposal. It started to feel like detective work.
Davis, who works as a reference archivist for the City-County Archives, said her research intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This spring, she compiled her more than seven years of research into “The Lost Photographs of Osbert Sumner,” on display through Nov. 30.
“I think it’s one of the gems of Indianapolis history, it captures things we’ve forgotten or never knew,” Steven Schimidt said.
Phantom connections
From July to September 2022, Davis cleaned and rescanned the glass negatives. She also traveled to Oakville, Ontario, a suburb southwest of Toronto, with the new scans hoping to learn more about Sumner and his family who lived there.
To her surprise, the employees at the town’s historical society knew all about him. They had a digital collection full of diary entries written by Sumner’s father, George Sumner. He was the town’s chief constable and harbor master for 37 years.
“I think the diaries are just like the smoking gun, with really beautiful details,” Davis told Mirror Indy.
She key-searched “Indianapolis” in the digital collection and found entries George Sumner had written about his time spent in the city when he visited his son in October 1900.
In one diary entry, he wrote about his time at the first annual fall carnival that included a Magic Circle.
Left: Monument Circle seen from South Meridian, looking north, on Oct. 17, 2025. (Credit: Ted Somerville for Mirror Indy) Right: According to George’s diary, Osbert captured his father posing in front of the Magic Circle Arch during the Indianapolis Fall Carnival on the morning of Oct. 7, 1900, before they watched the floral parade. (Credit: Irvington Historical Society)
“Big crowds in the City to see the Fall Carnival, the Monument & City are beautifully decorated.”
— Diary entry by George Sumner from Tuesday, Oct. 9, 1900
“Oss & I was around this Morning, he took some Photos of the Monument with me.”
— Diary entry by George Sumner from Wednesday, Oct. 10, 1900
Once Davis made the Oakville connection, she and Steven Schmidt started writing a book, “The Lost Photographs of Osbert Sumner.” It is available for $30 at the Bona Bookstore.
“I’ve always been amazed with Deedee’s research abilities. She gave me boxes full of details and then I just translated them into a narrative for the book,” Steven Schmidt said.
Another moment of happenstance came during a conversation she had with a fellow member of the Indianapolis Postcard Club. He had shown her a postcard he purchased on eBay. It contained a picture of IPS School #45.
After examining the postcard, Davis realized that it was written by Sumner’s nephew, Nelson Sumner, and sent to his grandfather, George Sumner.
“I felt like it was almost like cheating, because these details were just revealing themselves,” Davis said. “This is the stuff where you’re like waking people up at two in the morning.”
Dear Grandpa,
— Excerpt from a postcard by Nelson Sumner to his grandfather, George Sumner
I thought you would like to see a picture of the school I go to. I took it myself and printed it on this card.
New photography, old methods
Sumner often photographed his hobbies including hiking, bicycling and canoeing, as a member of the Indianapolis Canoe Club. His collection contains many photos he took on the White River.
He captured the former Bates House Hotel and Tomlinson Hall, Central Avenue Bridge, Beer Castle, Indiana State Fairgrounds, the funeral of former President Benjamin Harrison and residential life in Indianapolis during the turn of the 20th century.
The collection also features a dozen photographs of women in trees, which historians say was a popular trend in the early 20th century.
Left: The stairs to the Benton House are seen Oct. 20, 2025. (Credit: Jenna Watson/Mirror Indy) Right: An unidentified young woman sits on the front steps of the Benton House on July 4, 1901. A carriage house or barn can be seen in the distance. (Credit: Irvington Historical Society)
Davis said she was gripped by Sumner’s photographs that featured African Americans. She was able to locate a photo taken of William Brown, a coachman for the Van Camp family, who are known for their signature pork and beans canning business in Indianapolis.
The exact camera model used by Sumner is unknown.
Based on the negatives he left behind, it is believed by historians that he did dry plate photography. This format dominated the industry until the invention of film photography.
Dale Bernstein, who has been a commercial photographer for over 40 years, does wet plate photography, a similar process that was popular in the 1850s. To him, it feels more “handmade” as opposed to digital.
To produce a wet plate image, you had to manually coat a plate (glass or metal) with a light-sensitive solution just before exposure. Then, immediately develop the photo and fix the plate while it’s still wet all within about 15 minutes.
Dry plates would have been more convenient for Sumner because they could be stored and developed later.
The portraits Sumner had taken of himself show his humor and talent. In one photo, Sumner appears twice in the frame, something he achieved through a technique called a double exposure.
Essentially, two photos are taken using the same plate and the same background, making it look like a magic trick.
Bernstein, 70, said Sumner’s photos are technically impressive especially for the technological limitations. He can spot some over exposure in the images, but he said that’s what adds to their charm and emotional aesthetic.
“Perfection can be boring, the defects make it interesting,” Bernstein told Mirror Indy.
History tells an incomplete story
Sumner never had children and died in 1932 from complications of esophageal cancer. His wife, Maye, lived in their house at 68 N. Ritter Ave. until her death in the 1950s.
Davis described her eight-year research process in two words — “gratifying challenge.” Steven Schmidt said it feels like a jigsaw puzzle.
The story of Sumner’s photos is still incomplete. Davis wants to create a digital collection to make it more widely available to the public and find help.
Her next quest is to locate more relatives of people in the photos. As it stands now, the exhibit features an “unknown section” dedicated to the many women Sumner often captured in trees, friends at the Benton House in Irvington and early Black residents.
There’s one photo that haunts both Davis and Steven Schmidt. It’s an image Sumner took of a Black Civil War veteran.
They have not determined if it was taken in Indianapolis or Canada. Locations have been a constant road block to making new discoveries.
“I still hope that we will find them, or any of those people, or some of the ladies,” Davis said.
If you recognize anyone in the photos, contact the Irvington Historical Society at irvhistoricalsociety@gmail.com or by phone at 317-602-2962.
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Mirror Indy reporter Mesgana Waiss covers arts and culture. Contact her at 317-667-2643 or mesgana.waiss@mirrorindy.org.
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