Howard ankle camera
name: label: user
content: Howard, Tom
label: associated institution
content: New York Daily News
label: maker
content: Leica
notes: label: Description
content: Press cameras were forbidden from the prison execution chamber in Ossining, New York, where Ruth Snyder was to be electrocuted on January 12, 1928, for the murder of her husband. Editors at the <I>New York Daily News</I> believed it their duty to have both a journalist and photographer cover this event. Since all witnesses to the execution would be searched and frisked upon entry to the chamber, the newspaper planned their coverage well in advance.
label: Description
content: One month before Snyder's execution, editors in New York enlisted the help of <I>Chicago Tribune</I> photographer Thomas Howard to prepare for their news coverage. Howard, who would not be recognized by New York prison officials, was brought to New York a month before the execution. He stayed in a hotel practising making exposures with this modifyed miniature plate camera. He strapped the camera to his ankle with a long cable release run up his trouser leg into his pants pocket. He lifted the pant leg to take a photograph.
label: Description
content: Howard gained entry to witness Snyder's electrocution, achieving a slightly blurred image documenting the horror of the scene. The <I>New York Daily News</I> donated the camera to the Smithsonian in 1963.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: New York, Ossining
label: place used
content: United States: New York, Ossining
topic: label: Subject
content: Prisons
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Photographic History
label: See more items in
content: Photography
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: New York Daily News
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PG.007107
label: accession number
content: 250517
label: catalog number
content: 7107
objectType: label: Object Name
content: camera
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)