The Lacombe Museum is bringing local history into focus.
The next exhibition to come to the Lacombe Museum is a feature on the history of Lacombe through the photographs of local photographers who lived and worked in the area.
The exhibit, called "Lacombe Through the Lens", captures the town’s history from the perspective of local photographers like Ben Cameron, Mark Hanna, and J.A. Brown, just to name a few.
Brittany Kerik, collections registrar and researcher with the Lacombe Museum, says she’s excited for the community to see the story of Lacombe told through photographs.
“This exhibit is all about the photographic documentarians in Lacombe throughout the century. And we go back all the way to the 1890s to start talking about the importance of documenting Lacombe’s changes through photographs.”
From black-and-white stills to sepia-tinted memories, all the way to colour photos of the 1980s, the exhibit showcases Lacombe as seen through the lens of local photographers and their evolving collections.
“It’s really interesting,” says Kerik. “We’ve kind of had a photographer in Lacombe consistently for over 125 years, someone was always set up here.”
The photographers being featured were often connected to the Lacombe photo studio, whether as owners, developers, or frequent users of the space.
“A lot of people in Lacombe will recognize the name Ben Cameron because he was the photographer here for many decades,” says Kerik. “So, a lot of the photos out there in the community are by Ben Cameron.”
Since Cameron was one of the owners of the studio, many photos developed there were stamped with his name.
Kerik says this exhibit may help correctly attribute some of those images to their original creators.
The museum team has been working since early this year to sort through more than 10,000 photographs from their collections and archives.
In addition to the photos, the exhibit will include historical cameras, glass negatives and other items that show how photography has evolved over time.
“It’s really exciting to see your own community’s history in such a visual way,” says Kerik.
The "Lacombe Through the Lens" exhibit opens Saturday, July 12 at 10:00 a.m., and runs until the end of October.
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