Frank Sadorus (1880 - 1934)
Self-portrait with Camera 
Illinois State Museum Collection 
Gift of Raymond Bial 

Frank Sadorus was the fourth of six children born to George W.B. and Phoebe Sadorus. Henry Sadorus, Frank's great-grandfather, was the first settler in Champaign County, Illinois. The town of Sadorus, Illinois, was named after Henry's son Thomas.

Frank Sadorus worked the family farm most of the year. In the winter months (when chores were fewer), and in other spare moments, he took time to set up his cameras to record life on the farm. From the ages of twenty-eight and thirty-two, he took photographs of his family members, the changing seasons in Sadorus Grove, and still lifes of the plants that grew on the farm. His photographs show the love he had for the land and the rural way of life. 

Frank considered himself to be an artist. He learned photography and ordered equipment from mail order catalogs and magazines. His camera took images on plate-glass negatives. His subjects were his immediate family members and the flowers, insects, tress, and landscapes of the farm in winter and spring.

When his father died in 1911, Frank's life changed. The family farm was sold. Frank's mother, sister, and brother bought a house in town, but Frank moved into a small house at the edge of town. His mental health deteriorated to the point that he was committed to a mental hospital a hundred miles away in Kankakee, where he remained the rest of his life, never taking another photograph.

His equipment and glass-plate negatives were stored in his mother's attic, forgotten until 1973, when a nephew bought the house. The glass-plate negatives were brought to the attention of Raymond Bial, who cared for the collection and published a book about Frank entitled Upon a Quiet Landscape.