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Team Norsigian Accentuates the Negative (18)

The saga of Rick Norsigian and his yard-sale negatives took some intriguing turns during my 2½-week hiatus October 31-November 18. Most notable, surely, was the initiation of Melinda Pillsbury-Foster’s extensive documentation supporting claims on behalf of her grandfather, the photographer, filmmaker, inventor, lecturer, and author Arthur C. Pillsbury as the maker of the negatives in the Norsigian Collection. From my preliminary perusal of the documentation they’ve assembled, Pillsbury qualifies at least for serious consideration for potential authorship of the Norsigian Collection negatives. […]

Team Norsigian Accentuates the Negative (13)

Patrick Alt thus failed Team Norsigian in every significant way. Of everyone in this crew, he was in the best position to ensure the production of hard evidence to support what otherwise constitutes mostly extrapolation, assumption, and hypothesis — or to bow out. He did neither, instead boarding the “lost Adams negatives” bandwagon and urging it forward (for hire, not pro bono, I remind the reader). […]

Team Norsigian Accentuates the Negative (9)

This “buyer beware” warning should instantly raise a red flag for any prospective purchaser, particularly since it appears at a site where otherwise the words “authentication,” “authenticated,” “expert opinion,” and “by Ansel Adams” get sprinkled around like minced parsley on the specials at a yuppie brunch spot. Not to mention an international media environment in which Team Norsigian’s leaders continue to insist on the authenticity claimed. Team Norsigian begins to resemble the medieval “ship of fools”: a transportable dumping ground for those considered one brick shy of a load by their communities. With this disclaimer, they invite others to hop on board. […]

Team Norsigian Accentuates the Negative (5)

In pursuing this story I also take into account what we might call the “Inspector Clouseau factor” — the possibility that a bumbling incompetent (or even a busload of shlemiels and shlemozzles) could blunder and stumble into the correct solution to a puzzle. So I’m keeping an open mind on that subject, trying to separate hard evidence from irrelevancy, fact from fiction, and significant clues from red herrings. […]