The phrase “Yankee ingenuity” has become part of our language.

Maine people take a lot of pride in their ability to “make do.” Much of that has to do with tinkering and adapting; not many Mainers would put the formal label of “inventing” on it.

Nevertheless, Maine had inventors of worldwide importance. I’m referring to F.E. and F.O. Stanley, who were the inventors of the famous “Stanley Steamer” automobile. A lot of the early work on the car’s development took place in Lewiston when the Stanley twins, who hailed from Kingfield, were here.

But it’s not their innovative vehicle I would single out as the most important product of their genius. It’s another invention that had tremendous impact on our lives, and still has a place in the world of photography.

Digital photography is today’s choice for most professionals and amateurs, but it’s a process that’s still in its infancy compared to the long and historically indispensable role of film.

The Stanley brothers invented a dry plate process around 1883 that revolutionized the world of photography. That revolution had its beginnings on Park Street in the buildings where the Lewiston Journal originated and where the Lewiston Sun Journal is still published. The buildings were home to several offices and businesses, and the Stanley brothers began a dry plate manufacturing business that they sold to George Eastman of Kodak fame. The Stanleys made a fortune on that sale and went on to concentrate on development of a steam car. Although the car was successful100 years ago, it was nowhere near as enduring as their legacy related to film.

Just what was the dry plate photographic process that had such significance?

It was the forerunner of the photographic film we now take for granted.

The dry plate had great advantages over the wet collodian process in which the plate had to be prepared just before exposure and developed almost immediately.

Working in Lewiston, Francis Stanley learned how to make a reliable dry plate and Freelan, also called Fred, came up with a way to mass-produce the negatives.

The Stanleys made their dry plates by coating a piece of glass with a gelatin emulsion of silver bromide. It could be stored until exposure, and after exposure it could be brought back to a darkroom for development. The process became familiar to photographers everywhere over the past century.

In the early 1900s, roll film put cameras in the hands of everyone. The dry plate invention of the Stanleys paralleled George Eastman’s work, who had to buy out the Stanleys before the great Kodak enterprise could move ahead.

The wide interests of Francis and Freelan Stanley, and others in their family, were remarkable.

Before working on photography, Francis was a portrait painter in this part of Androscoggin County. He did air-brush portraits, and the inventive side was beginning to appear when he got a patent in 1876 for an improved air-brushing apparatus.

The brothers also were violin makers. They made many instruments, and a nephew, Carlton, constructed more than 500. Their sister, Chansonetta, gained lasting fame for her photos of rural life in Maine. Dorothy, Chansonetta’s only child, excelled as a painter.

Furthermore, the Stanley brothers wrote on topics as diverse as the labor movement and the evils of cigarette smoking.

The remarkable piece of Yankee ingenuity that took place on Park Street in Lewiston certainly played a key role in the evolution of photography. The dry plate process was not the product of the Stanley twins alone, but their inventiveness nurtured many developments in that period of American history that can be called “The Age of Invention.”

The marvels of the Stanley brothers’ lives can be seen at the Stanley Museum in Kingfield. It’s open from June to October. In addition to the Stanley Steamer displays, there are exhibits related to photography.

Dave Sargent is a freelance writer and an Auburn native. You can e-mail him at [email protected].