James Ricalton

James Ricalton (born about 1844, in Half Way, near Waddington, New York - died in Waddington October 28, 1929) was a school teacher, traveler, inventor, and photographer.

Ricalton came to Maplewood, New Jersey in 1871 for a 12-week, $200 contract as a school teacher. Contrary to practice at the time, his contract was renewed repeatedly until he became the district's first permanent school teacher and eventually principal. By all accounts, he was an extraordinary teacher, and his legacy is celebrated in the South Orange-Maplewood School District. He was locally famous for his habit of conducting classes outdoors in good weather and for his gentle manner. Among other things, a central square in Maplewood village is named after him, and there is a large mural of his outdoor classes in Maplewood municipal hall.

Always referred to as Professor Ricalton, he travelled extensively during his summer vacations and circumnavigated the world seven times. He was a prolific photographer, leaving over 100,000 images, among them a large collection of stereoscopic images. His journeys included Iceland, Russia, and the Amazon. Thomas Edison sent him on a mission to find the right bamboo filament for a light bulb. The filament he found was used by Edison for nine months until tungsten was discovered. He also acted as a war photographer during the Boxer Rebellion in China, the Russo-Japanese War, and the installation of Edward VII as Emperor of India in 1901. The Underwood company used his photographers to illustrate geography books.

In 1891, Ricalton retired as a war photographer, but he continued with his travels. In 1909, he walked from Cape Town to Cairo. He was sent on another assignment by Edison to test a motion picture camera in Africa, filming among other things a whaling expedition off Cape Town. His son Lomond accompanied him on this trip but died from typhoid fever there, and this was Ricalton's last trip.

He expanded his house on Valley Street in Maplewood to house his enormous collection. When the township of Maplewood declined to accept his collection as a gift, he moved it all in two and a half train cars to his birth town of Waddington, where he spent his last five years.

External links

* [http://www.ricalton.org Ricalton.org] , a web site maintained by Ricalton's great-grandson, James Ricalton Wilson.
* [http://www.maplewoodonline.com/matters/ricalton/ Maplewood Matter biography of Ricalton, by Valerie Davia]