Picturing Osage County

Photography is a Theme for the Osage County Historical Society

By Roberta V. Schwinke

It all began with a marvelous collection of photographs.  Charles Francis Weeks was an artist with a camera who chronicled the lives of Osage County residents for many years.   Babies, graduations, weddings, anniversaries - he did them all.   With the help of his wife, Alice McKnight Weeks and their daughter, Ruby Weeks the Weeks studio documented Osage County history from 1885 - 1950.   Almost every Osage County family has several Weeks photographs, and many of those photographs are coming to the Historical Society.   One can trace the history of photography in the Weeks collection.

Or perhaps it began with Laura Zewicki Knoerr, daughter of Enoch and Amy who built the Zewicki house, the house maintained as a museum by the Historical Society.   Laura studied photography at the Effingham IL College of Photography and was a very proficient photographer.  We also have a nice collection of her photographs taken from the 1920's to the 1950's as well as some of the equipment that she used.

One could also say it all began  with the Charette.  In October 2001 the Society, with the help of the Humanities Council, sponsored a Charette to explore ways of developing a mission and of making our Society more relevant to the life of county residents.  One suggestion was a photo contest.

As these circumstances came together, Barbara Schmitz, Museum Curator, put together a workshop on photography, featuring the Weeks collection on November 25, 2002,  and an exhibition of photographs by and of Laura Knoerr, “Remembering Laura,” held in August of 2003.    Then, also in 2003,  we were encouraged to proceed with a photo contest.