WESTPORT – Get ready for an expansive view of the town’s history as the Westport Historical Society presents, “Retro Perspective: Panoramic Vistas from Westport’s Past,” an exhibit on view at the Westport Free Public Library, 480 Old County Rd.
This free exhibition will be on view from January 3 to February 28.
Featuring 22 historic panoramic views of Westport, this exhibition offers stunning, expansive visions of the landscape, as well as fascinating small details of everyday life.
Covering locations from Westport Factory, the head of Westport and Westport Point to the harbour, these images reveal Westport as it appeared in the early 1900s – on the cusp of modernity but still very much in the horse and buggy era.
From a collection of many hundreds of historical images, this exhibition presents a select few that, when paired with another image, form wider panoramic views. The images are digitally stitched together to form a single view and enlarged from small 3 x 5 inch postcards to as wide as four feet.
“The large size of the prints provides an immersive experience for the viewer,” said Jenny O’Neill, Westport Historical Society Executive Director, in a press release. “It’s almost like being in that particular place and at that particular time.”
The rural landscape depicted in these images, delineated by an intricate maze of stone walls and wooden fences, appears starkly treeless.
“It would be impossible to take a comparable photo today because our views are generally obscured by trees,” O’Neill said.
These images are immediately accessible to the general viewer. Many of the buildings shown in these photos still exist, making it easy to recognize many locations and to compare then and now.
“I hope visitors can look at these images from both a macro and a micro perspective,” O’Neill said. “I especially enjoy picking out the many details, such as the laundry hanging on a clothesline to dry, the photographer’s horse and buggy, the style of fencing, dogs wandering across a road, or the random outbuildings in backyards. We are running a special photo scavenger hunt to engage younger audiences.”
This exhibition represents the work of three photographers – Oscar Edwin Dubois, John Howland and The Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company – and draws from various collections. The Westport Historical Society maintains an extensive postcard collection, including the Lees Postcard Collection, the Jan Hall Collection, and Berwyn Field Collection. The exhibit also includes images from the Penobscot Marine Museum and from privately owned collections.
Dubois (1863-1940), a Fall River-based photographer, documented this region extensively, traveling through Little Compton, Portsmouth, Westport, and Tiverton. Photographers of this era used sturdy, large-format wooden cameras that were difficult to carry without a horse and buggy. Dubois’ horse and buggy can be seen in a number of images in this exhibition.
Howland (1848-1919), a farmer, carpenter and photographer, lived on Pine Hill Road in Westport and took many photographs at the Head of Westport, South Westport and Cadmans Neck. Most of his images survive in the format of “real photo” postcards.
The Eastern Illustrating and Publishing Company, based in Belfast, Maine, focused on small rural New England towns. A small team of photographers traveled through this region capturing images of locally famous landmarks, street scenes, rural shops and businesses, events and people. Fortunately, the negative survived and the collection is now at the Penobscot Marine Museum.
A selection of images are available for purchase.
Proceeds will support the Westport Historical Society.
The Westport Historical Society’s collection contains thousands of photographs and postcards. The entire collection of photographs can be searched at www.wpthistory.org/collection/online-collections-database.
Visit www.wpthistory.org/retro-perspective for further details.
