'Photographer as Historian' exhibit at library

William Finley with black-throated sparrows, Arizona 1910, from ‘William L. Finley, Pioneer Wildlife Photographer,’ Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore., 1986, by Worth Mathewson.

12:01 p.m., May 18, 2006--An exhibition, “The American Photographer as Historian,” will be on display from June 13-Sept. 15, on the first floor of the Morris Library near the Interlibrary Loan Office. The curator is Sally Donatello, library assistant in the Special Collections Department.

Divided into four categories--people and places, nature and human nature, photojournalism and material culture--the exhibition demonstrates the power of the photographic image and the role of the American photographer as historian from the mid-1800s to the beginning of the 21st Century.

Pioneers of photography brought a new kind of portraiture into prominence as they moved outside their studies, and many of those early photographs are the only known visual documentation of an event, a person, a place or an artifact, according to Donatello.

“As witness to history, photographers endure glorious and unforeseen obstacles to capture a moment that would otherwise be lost,” Donatello said. “The preservation of a small or monumental instance is the backbone of this visual media.

“Today's digital processes assure that photography's documentation can reach vast audiences for current and future generations,” she said.

“Photography is a silent language that reveals itself through visual storytelling. Its power is insurmountable,” according to Donatello.

For library hours call (302) 831-BOOK or visit the web site at [www.lib.udel.edu]. A bibliography of books displayed in the exhibit will be available on the Special Collections website at [www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/].

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