Archive Photography Exhibition Opening On Saturday

The Newtown Historical Images Archive will receive its public debut with the presentation of “Passport To Newtown’s Past,” a special exhibition that will open on Saturday, July 30, at C.H. Booth Library.

An opening reception, to which the public is invited, will run from 10 am until 2 pm.

The exhibition will offer three dozen digital prints created from archive photographs, slides or glass negatives from the collections of Newtown Historical Society and the library. The exhibition is a photographic sampling of Newtown’s new and extensive resource, The Newtown Historical Images Archive.

Each of the 36 images on view will be accompanied by a name and date. When possible, background information will also be presented. The exhibition is being sponsored by The Friends of C.H. Booth Library.

“Passport To Newtown’s Past” will include photos of people at work and play during the late 1800s to 1940 – harvesting ice, riding horse-drawn sleighs, worked fields with oxen, clearing snow from main roads from shovels, marching in parades, or even watching helplessly as a general store burns.

The Archive is a project of Newtown Historical Society, under the direction of Andrea Zimmermann. NHIA was proposed in 2002 and formally established in 2003 to rescore and preserve photographs that document life in Newtown, make available copies of those images for the public, and education the public about its heritage.

The archive contains more than 2,500 images in digital and physical formats.

The short-term goal of the Archive is to unify, catalog, and offer for public use three known and significant photographic collections: those of Newtown Historical Society, The Mitchell/Goodrich photographic survey of historic homes in Newtown; and pertinent images from The Bee Publishing Co., Inc.

The Archive’s long-term goal is to collect and preserve images that would be lost by way of deterioration or abandonment. Donations or even loans of images that would be of significant value to future generations are still being accepted.

For additional information about the project leave a message at 426-5937 or visit NewtownHistory.org/ImageArchive.htm.

“Passport To Newtown’s Past” will be on view at Booth Library, 25 Main Street in Newtown, until August 30 during regular library hours.