The Photographic Historical Society of Canada is proud to present the John S. Craig archive of repair manuals. Through the generosity of John’s widow, Joyce Krutick Craig, we are pleased to host this very significant part of John’s life work. Although John is no longer with us, he lives on in the fond memories of his family and friends. John’s dedication to scholarship and the preservation and dissemination of the history is perpetuated in the pages that follow.
John Craig was a noted photojournalist, photo historian and daguerreian researcher. He passed away on February 25th, 2011, survived by his wife Joyce Krutick Craig and his son, stepson and their families. John was born in 1943 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and received his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 1965. His interest in the history of photography began in 1969, fueled from the time he worked as a photographer/reporter for the Hartford Courant while still in college. After graduation, John spent another six years at the Courant, along with running his own retail camera store in Simsbury, as well as serving as a photographer with the Connecticut National Guard. John became the first fulltime ‘professional’ dealer in photographica in the United States, publishing his first catalog in 1970 and accidentally becoming a photographic historian.
John was the founding president of the Photographic Historical Society of New England (PHSNE), which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. John was active with photo shows even before the start of Shutterbug magazine, eventually writing a regular column for the publication, commenting on the various collector shows throughout the country. Highlights of John’s career as professional photographer included three interviews and photo shoots with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and an interview and shoot with controversial psychologist and author Timothy Leary. During the racial violence which erupted in New Haven in August, 1967, John was sent to cover the unrest and violence with his camera.
John’s logo of an early photographer standing behind his view camera, with a dark cloth over his head, was registered as a worldwide trademark in 1973. For years, he travelled the continent, setting up as a dealer at collector shows, and enjoying mention in Popular Photography, The Rangefinder, Camera and Darkroom and other publications too numerous to mention. In his heyday as a dealer, he carried more than 155,000 instruction booklets for cameras, accessories and projectors, as well as over 10,000 other interesting photographic items. Starting in 1971, John published reprints of early photographic catalogues, useable and classic camera instruction booklets and repair manuals.
One of John’s crowning achievements was the groundbreaking Craig’s Daguerreian Registry, a critically important reference among dealers and collectors for identifying and dating the more than 12,000 daguerreotypists working in the United States prior to 1860. Published in 1994, it underwent a second edition, and John was working on the third edition at the time of his death (his widow is working on completing this last edition).
John was a faithful attendee and dealer at the annual Daguerreian Society symposiums and trade fairs. He was awarded the Society’s first Fellowship Award, inscribed with these words:
“For the advancement of scholarship in the field of photo history and the willingness to share that knowledge with his contemporaries and future generations of historians, scholars and collectors.”
John’s life and enjoyment of photo history in all its facets is best expressed his own words from his ‘Meet the Boss’ page on this website:
Who you’re dealing with.
“If you’re like me, before plunking down your hard-earned money, or start clicking keys to reveal your credit card number to somebody out there in cyberspace, you want some peace of mind knowing you’re dealing with a reputable firm. After all, just about anyone can set up a website. I should be a corporation with numerous employees, but I’m not. I’m still only a one-man operation, organizing, filing, writing, lugging, shipping, talking, and often being generally confused. All in all, there’s a whole lot of times I think life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and my van became a second home. “
There you are, that’s who I am.
Use this link to see the repair manuals we have from John’s estate – or go to the same link under RESEACH.
