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Current BHA Exhibit on Display at Bristol Public Library

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The Kelly and Green vintage camera collection was donated to the Bristol Historical Association by Albert Sidney Kelly, Jr., who became president of the Kelly and Green Photo Company in 1945, following the death of its founder, his father, Albert Sidney Kelly, Sr.

Albert Kelly, Sr., was a native of Tazewell County Virginia, where he was born September 2, 1886, the son of John P. and Mary Groseclose Kelly, both members of pioneer families. He was educated in the schools of Tazewell County and came to Bristol in 1910. One year later, he established his photo finishing business, continuing actively in its operation until his death. Mr. Kelly married Miss Francis Berry in Dalton, Georgia, in 1912. The couple had two children, Jane Kelly (who later married Dr. William C. Grigsby, Jr.) and Albert Sidney Kelly, Jr.

Mr. Kelly established Kelly and Green Inc., at 514 Cumberland Street in Bristol, Virginia. Kelly and Green’s grand opening was on Saturday, July 3, 1920. At the time, Mr. Kelly’s brothers, Charles P. Kelly and George L. Kelly, were associated with the company. Prior to World War II, the company's photographers took pictures of stores, city scenes, and schools. In its early years of business, the company had a complete mailing service of form letters, multigraphing, addressing, mailing, public stenography, and notarizing. Kelly and Green became one of the largest and most prominent photographic companies in the region.

Described as “a man of gentle deportment, industrious in his business life, and intensely devoted to his family,” Mr. Kelly built a firm that had a national reputation for quality work, and the excellence of many of his staff’s products brought widespread attention to the Bristol region through their publication in national magazines. No other businessman in Bristol enjoyed a more pleasant relationship with his employees than did Mr. Kelly. He created a positive work environment for his “work family” and hosted events for them, the last one a party held at Hungry Mother Park in Marion the July before ill health forced him to cease active direction of his business. He was a member of State Street Methodist Church, the Rotary Club, and the Bristol Virginia Electoral Board.
Albert Kelly, Sr., passed away following a lengthy illness at 11 AM, Friday, October 19, 1945, at the relatively young age of fifty-nine, in the company of his family at his home, 1000 Prospect Avenue. His final resting place is in Glenwood Cemetery, Bristol, Tennessee.

Albert Sidney Kelly, Jr., born March 15, 1917, graduated from Bristol Virginia High School in 1934 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from King College in 1938. At the time of his father’s death, Albert Jr. had only recently returned to Bristol after serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942 until 1945, from which he was honorably discharged with the rank of captain. Following his father’s passing, Albert Jr. became owner and president of the firm of Kelly and Green Inc., which had become an iconic Bristol business and one of the South’s leading photo supply and photo finishing companies.
In 1960, Mr. Kelly, Jr., was elected president of the Master Photo Dealers and Finishers Association, a national organization representing photographic dealers and photo finishers in the United States and Canada, later serving on the Board of Trustees of that organization. In 1966, he graduated from the management development program at Emory University in Atlanta. During his career, Mr. Kelly served as chairman of the “Buc Rogers Group,” which was comprised of the twenty largest photo finishing firms in the United States and Canada. He served as president of the Bristol Host Lions Club and was a member of the Rotary Club of Bristol and the Bristol Elks Lodge. He was on the board of directors of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce and served as its president in 1973. He was also a member of the board of directors of Twin City Federal Savings Bank and was chairman of the board of Dominion National Bank (which later became First Union, now Wachovia). He served as president of both the Massengill DeFriece Foundation and the Bristol Memorial Hospital Board of Directors. He was a lifelong member of State Street United Methodist Church, having served on the board of administrators of the church.

Albert S. Kelly, Jr., married Annie Neville Hill. The couple had one daughter, Neville. Following Annie’s death in 1984, he later married Mary Holton Kelly. Mr. Kelly Jr. passed away on Tuesday evening, October 29, 2002, in Savannah, Georgia. He rests in Glenwood Cemetery, Bristol, Tennessee, near his father, both giants in the field of photo finishing, an art that has become rare following the advent of cell phone cameras and personal computers that afford each person the ability to take and print one’s own photos.

These cameras represent years of technological advancement and innovation. The inspiration, dedication, personal achievement, and hard work on the part of both father and son captured history and created lasting memories for our entire region.