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Conference focuses on photography of American West, April 29
Posted April 20, 2006; 11:28 p.m.
An academic conference titled "Framing the Frontier: A Day of
Lectures in Honor of Alfred L. Bush" is set for 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 29, in 101 McCormick Hall.
Organized by the Friends of the Princeton University Library, the
conference will focus on the early photography of the American West and
contemporary issues surrounding its collection, display and ownership.
It is intended to honor Alfred L. Bush, who retired as curator of
Western Americana in December 2002. Bush voraciously collected
photographs of the American West during his 45-year tenure at
Princeton, ultimately gathering some 5,000 images that recently have
been cataloged by Heather Shannon, who will curate an exhibition that
also opens April 29.
In the conference's first panel, "Picturing the West," the speakers
will explore the place of photography in early expeditions to the West,
in the rise of the western cityscape and in Native American
consciousness. The speakers in second panel, "Western Americana
Photographs in the Archive," will discuss collecting Western
photographs, their display in exhibitions and the ethics and politics
of photographic images in the age of intellectual property.
The conference will be followed at 4 p.m. by a lecture by Martha
Sandweiss, professor of history and American studies at Amherst
College, in 101 McCormick, and the opening of the exhibition, "Framing
the Frontier: Photographers and the American West, 1850-1920," at
Firestone Library's Main Gallery.
For registration and more information, contact Linda Oliveira at 258-3155.