Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Wooden camera obscura [replica]
General material designation
- Object
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Item
Repository
Reference code
2005.006.01.03
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
2006 (Creation)
- Creator
- Nassau, Wilhelm E.
Physical description area
Physical description
1 piece of photographic equipment : camera
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Wilhelm E. Nassau was born in Vienna, Austria in 1922, where he attended public and secondary school. He became seriously interested in film and photography in 1939, when he obtained his first 9 1/2 mm amateur movie camera. From 1940-1942, he attended the Vienna Staatliche Graphische Lehreun Versuchsanstalt, eventually earning a Masters Degree in Photography. Later, he obtained a secondary diploma in Electronic Engineering from a Vienna technical college, specializing in Television.
From 1942 - 1944, Nassau worked as a technician developing colour photography processes and on various feature film productions in Germany. In 1945, he worked for the Psychological Warfare Branch of the British 8th Army, shooting film and photographs.
After the war, Nassau found work at a researcher and photographer for the Third Man, a film production by the London Film Company in 1948. Similar awssignements followed and in 1956 Nassau began work for the newly established Austrian State Television. After coming to Ottawa, Ontario in 1959, Nassau worked for the CBC, CTV and. later, for ABC in Vermont.
In 1969, Wilfren Laurier University (then the Waterloo Lutheran University) hired Nassau to spearhead the development of an Audio-Visual department, where he developed courses in Film Study, Radio and Television Arts and Photograhpy. He also headed the development of the Telecollege program; televised lecture courses for distance education.
Nassau holds a Masters Degree in Near Eastern Archeology and an honorary Doctorate from Wilfred Laurier University.
He has produced many documentaries for various museums in canada and abroad, and acts as a consultant for the National Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa and the Glass Museum in Baernbach, Austria.
Nassau is a Life Member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and the Canadian Society of Cinematographers. He is also a Charter Member of the Photographic Historical Society of Canada. He currently lives in Waterloo and works as a volunteer for the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Cameras of this kind were used during the 18th and 19th century by artists and travelling tourists to sketch landscapes and buildings. A piece of transparent paper was placed on the matte screen. One could now trace the outlines of the subject as a guide for later elaborate sketching or painting. It was the predecessor of photographic cameras which, after 1839, could record the image by the reaction of chemical substances to light. Later the simple meniscus lenses were replaced by more corrected lens elements.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Created by Wilhelm E. Nassau and donated to Ryerson University Library and Archives Special Collections department by Wilfrid Laurier University in 2011.
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Open. Records are available for consultation without restriction.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Associated materials
Accruals
General note
Item is from the Wilhelm E. Nassau/Wilfrid Laurier University donation, accession number 2011.018. Moved to the Heritage Camera Collection in 2013.