Events

Our exhibit Harriett Langdon Pruyn Rice (1868-1935): Seeing Worthington Through A Different Lens, includes approximately 50 photographs taken by this remarkable amateur photographer from about 1892 through 1906. The exhibit was open to the public several times in 2023, and any further exhibit hours are yet to be determined.

Harriet L. P. Rice was an Albany, New York, resident and daughter-in-law of Worthington native William A. Rice, Jr. Her photos of Town residents – taken free of charge in their homes, fields, pastures, and door-yards – are informal, candid and utterly natural, without lighting props, costumes or enhancements. Along with her extensive journal entries and photo labels, the images capture with singular clarity the texture of everyday life in Worthington as it evolved from a remote, agrarian community to a town slowly coming to grips with the Industrial Age.

Rice’s considerable photographic output in Worthington was achieved with a tripod-mounted box camera and glass negatives that were transported by horse-drawn carriage back to Albany for development. The photos are magnificent depictions of New England’s hardscrabble residents in their familiar and well-worn environs, proudly greeting the camera’s eye.

The exhibit also includes photos of Rice’s husband, child, and Worthington residence. These photos were used to illustrate a re-printed edition of Snow-bound: A Winter Idyl, an extraordinarily popular poem published in 1866 by John Greenleaf Whittier. Snow-bound celebrated the New England farmhouse values of simplicity and goodness, commemorating an idealized version of the nation before the ravages of the Civil War. During the conflict, Rice’s husband’s uncle, Brigadier General James Clay Rice, died heroically at the battle of Spotsylvania Court House in Virginia. Perhaps Harriet L. P. Rice provided photographic illustrations for Snow-bound to pay tribute to his sacrifice, while honoring the rustic lives enjoyed by her adopted Worthington community.

A detailed overview of the exhibit, with historical background and excerpts from her journals, can be downloaded at this link.

This exhibit is supported in part by a grant from the Worthington Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

For history-related events in Western Massachusetts, also check the events calendar of the Pioneer Valley History Network.

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