After receiving a donation of thousands of photographs dating from 1884 to the mid-1990s, The Community Foundation of Henderson County decided to put the historic images on display at weekly slideshows.
And though the images are in the good care of CFHC, the foundation is asking the public for help in identifying historic events, faces and scenes from the photos.
The event is held every Thursday from 1:30-3 p.m., at the Henderson County Public Library at 301 N. Washington St. in Hendersonville. A special slideshow will be held on Feb. 3, from 5-6:30 p.m. in the Kaplan Auditorium (same address), that showcases more than 100 years of photos of African American communities in the area.
Coincidentally, Carolina Public Press reports that photos of Asheville from 1904 have surfaced at the Pack Memorial Library. To view historic Asheville photos, click here.
From the CFHC press release:
Gifted to the Community Foundation by the late Joseph “Jody” Egerton Barber and maintained at the Henderson County Public Library, the Baker-Barber Photo Collection is a treasure trove of thousands of images documenting people, places and events in and around Henderson County from 1884 to the mid-1990s. The collection’s images illustrate the changing face of our community through the years and include pictures of rural life, urbanization, transportation, recreation, tourism, families, businesses, news, events, and formal portraits of area residents.
A member of the Community Foundation’s Board of Directors, Ron Partin has been leading a renewed effort, with the assistance of volunteers, to digitally scan, catalog and identify images in the Baker-Barber Photographic Collection.
Ron invites the community to attend the weekly slideshows held every Thursday from 1:30-3:00 pm at Henderson County Public Library at 301 N Washington Street in Hendersonville. Please note the time for the slideshows are moving earlier in the day to 1:30 pm beginning on January 22, 2015. The slideshows offer a great opportunity to view images from the collection and to share information about the people, places and events in the photos.
Additionally, a special Baker-Barber Slideshow will be held Tuesday, February 3, 2015 from 5:00 pm-6:30 pm at the Main Branch of the Henderson County Public Library in the Kaplan Auditorium located at 301 N Washington Street in Hendersonville. This showing will feature 100+ years of photos of African-American members of our community.
To order copies of any of the Baker-Barber photographs, contact Special Collections Librarian Mark Burdette at mburdette@henderson.lib.nc.us or (828) 697-4725. All proceeds from the sales are placed in the Baker-Barber fund at the Community Foundation.
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