Elnora Alice Kitchel Hamilton Egler, known to everyone from childhood as Happy, was my wife Laura’s grandmother. Happy was a self-taught photographer. She started with black and white in 120 format, and worked her way into 35mm slides. Happy was the first female member of the American Society of Photographers and of the Royal Photographic Society. She printed hundreds of her photos – many as large as 16×20 inches – and sent them to competitions all over the United States and Canada.
At her death in 1979, she left a legacy in the neighborhood of 30,000 images. This collection has found me, and I am attempting to digitize it. All of it. Starting at one end and working my way to the other. Stick with me! I’ll be posting up my favorite finds – plus anything noteworthy – in the Scanning Happy’s category.