Joan,
My apologies for this very tardy response...you likely have the answers to
your questions by now. However:
I worked a few years for Stella Klopot Bonner in the mid-50s. My duties were
not of the technical sort--I packed, loaded, carried, and set up her photo
equipment on her "road trips". These trips would commonly be weddings,
funerals, even a couple family reunions, and an outdoor/gravel-pit baptism.
I was paid $1/hr and appreciated every penny of it. The need for my help
was, as you'd imagine, quite sporadic or irregular. I might have put in 16
hours in one summertime week and 6 hours in one wintertime month. I did not
work in her studio, except to pack up and unpack equipment.
To my knowledge, Mrs. Bonner undertook virtually any/every variety of
"pitcher-takin' "....she took many/most of my grade school group photos;
she
certainly took a ton of wedding photos and individual or family formal
portraits. It seems to me that she had taken photos of structures or
buildings or "main street" for historical purposes, but I don't recall her
doing what I would term "commercial photography".
Klopot Studio was a small block building on Pearl St in "downtown Knox", the
second building north of the corner of Lake and Pearl Sts, on the east side
of the street. The Johnsons lived in the first house; the elder Klopots,
then the Bonners, in the third. To my recollection, when Stella retired from
the business, her studio became Myron's Barber Shop; I think it still may be
a barber shop.
Good luck with your book......Morris Fletcher
---- Original Message -----
From: "Joan Hostetler" <hostetler(a)iquest.net>
To: <INSTARKE-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2001 2:22 PM
Subject: [INSTARKE] Klopot
Posted on: Starke County, Indiana Queries
Reply Here:
http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/In/Starke/266
Surname: Klopot, Bonner
-------------------------
Hi Morris,
A couple of people have written me about the Klopot Studio in Knox, Starke
County, and rest assured I plan to include this studio in my book! Would
you mind telling me about what years you worked for Stella (I assume she
was the daughter of the original Klopot?); where the studio was located;
and what type of photographs they took (probably the standard portraits,
but did they specialize in anything such as school photos, studio
portraits,
outdoor/commercial photos)?
Also, does anyone know when the studio opened and eventually closed and
what happened to their negatives and business records?
Thanks--
Joan Hostetler
Indiana Photographers Project