Overview

By the beginning of the twentieth century, photography had become accessible to average Americans as a means of documenting their lives. Although most people did not yet own cameras, they flocked to commercial photographers for affordable portraits that became the family heirlooms we gape at in wonder today. One of the most accomplished of these photographers was Joseph Judd Pennell of Junction City, Kansas. Pennell had one of the best equipped studios in the state and took thousands of photographs recording the public life of his town. People from all walks of life posed for his camera, and his images not only constitute one of America's great photography collections but also one of the richest visual documentations we have of this era. Our Town on the Plains reproduces more than one hundred of Pennell's best photographs. Taken from 1893 to 1922, these wonderfully crisp images depict life in Junction City and nearby Fort Riley: people posing with studio props or in front of their homes, group shots of schools and clubs, commissioned photographs of buildings and businesses, public events like parades and unveilings, and ordinary people at work on their farms and in their shops. These photographs suggest a world of solid civic and personal values, with Pennell's wide-angle lens lending a sense of spaciousness to everyday life. We see a baseball diamond from the late 1800s and a bar so typical of its day it was used in the opening credits of Cheers, images as inspiring as Teddy Roosevelt on the campaign trail or as nostalgic as storefront windows with groceries or corsets. They also depict a time of major transition in American life, as some people pose with their horse and buggy and others with their automobile. James Shortridge's text, interwoven with Pennell's images, takes readers on a stroll through Junction City in this golden age and points out many of the changes that were sweeping America. An introductory essay by art historian John Pultz reviews Pennell's career during the heyday of studio photography. Pennell's work is widely celebrated, having appeared in numerous books and PBS documentaries. Our Town on the Plains now preserves some of the best of those photographs in a volume through which we can visit our past and, in the process, discover ourselves.

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9780700610433

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Reviews

""J. J. Pennell's finely crafter pictorial record, together with the perceptive narratives by Shortridge and Pultz, help to shape and preserve memories of a past where reality turned its best profile to the camera and, therefore, to history itself.""--James Enyeart, Marion Professor and Director, Anne and John Marion Center for Photographic Arts, College of Santa Fe, and author of Land, Sky, and All That Is Within: Visionary Photography in the Southwest ""To Pennell's wonderful photographs, Shortridge adds important analyses that range from the impact of railroad patterns, the auto, and the road, to the ethnic and moral makeup of Junction City and the role of nearby Ft. Riley.""--Craig Miner, Distinguished Professor of History, Wichita State University, and author West of Wichita: Settling the High Plains of Kanas, 1865-1890 ""This isn't just a collection of photographs showing Junction City's history, it is a collection of images that shows the history of Kansas and in a more general sense, the history of America at the turn of the century.""--Wichita Eagle ""Part photo-essay, part local history, and part social history, Our Town on the Plains is a useful tool to those who want a glimpse at life during the heyday of the small town, just before the changes in American society and commercial photography created a very different cultural landscape.""--Western Historical Quarterly ""Shortridge arranges the photographs so that the reader is taken on a guided tour of the town and its environs. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but as every careful viewer knows, the trick is figuring out which words. Shortridge admirable tethers these community portraits to historical and geographical context.""--Kansas History ""A tribute to all of the people who made small communities become a part of our larger collective history and mythology.""--Great Plains Quarterly ""The book testifies to the importance of photography to local histories, for the images show the townspeople both as they were and as they wished to be.""--Annals of Iowa

Intelligent and detailed, this eerily nostalgic journey into Junction City's past tells the story of the town's economic beginnings and those of J. J. Pennell. His lens captured an entire community, and this book preserves a prismatic account of the buggy-to-automobile era as seen through the lives of its inhabitants.

J. J. Pennell s finely crafter pictorial record, together with the perceptive narratives by Shortridge and Pultz, help to shape and preserve memories of a past where reality turned its best profile to the camera and, therefore, to history itself. James Enyeart, Marion Professor and Director, Anne and John Marion Center for Photographic Arts, College of Santa Fe, and author of Land, Sky, and All That Is Within: Visionary Photography in the Southwest To Pennell s wonderful photographs, Shortridge adds important analyses that range from the impact of railroad patterns, the auto, and the road, to the ethnic and moral makeup of Junction City and the role of nearby Ft. Riley. Craig Miner, Distinguished Professor of History, Wichita State University, and author West of Wichita: Settling the High Plains of Kanas, 1865 1890 This isn t just a collection of photographs showing Junction City s history, it is a collection of images that shows the history of Kansas and in a more general sense, the history of America at the turn of the century. Wichita Eagle Part photo-essay, part local history, and part social history, Our Town on the Plains is a useful tool to those who want a glimpse at life during the heyday of the small town, just before the changes in American society and commercial photography created a very different cultural landscape. Western Historical Quarterly Shortridge arranges the photographs so that the reader is taken on a guided tour of the town and its environs. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but as every careful viewer knows, the trick is figuring out which words. Shortridge admirable tethers these community portraits to historical and geographical context. Kansas History A tribute to all of the people who made small communities become a part of our larger collective history and mythology. Great Plains Quarterly The book testifies to the importance of photography to local histories, for the images show the townspeople both as they were and as they wished to be. Annals of Iowa

This isn't just a collection of photographs showing Junction City's history, it is a collection of images that shows the history of Kansas and in a more general sense, the history of America at the turn of the century.--Wichita EaglePart photo-essay, part local history, and part social history, Our Town on the Plains is a useful tool to those who want a glimpse at life during the heyday of the small town, just before the changes in American society and commercial photography created a very different cultural landscape.--Western Historical Quarterly Shortridge arranges the photographs so that the reader is taken on a guided tour of the town and its environs. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but as every careful viewer knows, the trick is figuring out which words. Shortridge admirable tethers these community portraits to historical and geographical context.--Kansas History A tribute to all of the people who made small communities become a part of our larger collective history and mythology.--Great Plains Quarterly The book testifies to the importance of photography to local histories, for the images show the townspeople both as they were and as they wished to be.--Annals of Iowa J. J. Pennell's finely crafter pictorial record, together with the perceptive narratives by Shortridge and Pultz, help to shape and preserve memories of a past where reality turned its best profile to the camera and, therefore, to history itself.--James Enyeart, Marion Professor and Director, Anne and John Marion Center for Photographic Arts, College of Santa Fe, and author of Land, Sky, and All That Is Within: Visionary Photography in the SouthwestTo Pennell's wonderful photographs, Shortridge adds important analyses that range from the impact of railroad patterns, the auto, and the road, to the ethnic and moral makeup of Junction City and the role of nearby Ft. Riley.--Craig Miner, Distinguished Professor of History, Wichita State University, and author West of Wichita: Settling the High Plains of Kanas, 1865-1890

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