Building detail. Banner for A Wide Variety of Views: Exhibit Opening

A Wide Variety of Views: Exhibit Opening

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Lecture Arts and Culture Community Building Free Food Open to Faculty/Staff Open to Students Open to the Public

Fri, Feb 13, 2026

2 PM – 4 PM EST (GMT-5)

Nixon Lounge, Third Floor & Second Floor Gallery, Hawthorne-Longfellow Library

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Details

Join the Bowdoin College Library for an opening of the Spring 2026 exhibit, A Wide Variety of Views: The Photography of Leon B. Strout for a talk, exhibit tour, and tea on Friday, February 13 from 2:00-4:00PM.

2PM (Nixon Lounge, 3rd floor) Talk: A Wide Variety of Views: A 20th Century Maine Studio Photographer and his Worlds with historian Libby Bischof
A Brunswick local, Leon B. Strout (1869-1937) gained commercial success in the early twentieth century as a skilled photographer distinguished by his technical virtuosity and compelling compositions, many of Brunswick and the surrounding area. It took a tremendous amount of creativity, hustle, and pluck to be a successful studio and commercial photographer in a world of ever-expanding and competing images and image-makers. In this richly illustrated talk, Bischof places Strout firmly in the context of the growth and development of photography in Maine and New England at the turn-of-the-century. She also explores how Strout constantly expanded his frame of reference—from his studio and landscape work in Brunswick, to Boston, to the embattled post-WWI landscapes of rural France and back—and the ways in which these landscapes and peoples shaped his understanding of the world.

3PM (2nd floor Gallery) Exhibit Tour and Tea with curator Katie Perry
A Wide Variety of Views introduces the photographic works of Leon B. Strout in an exhibition curated by the Strout Family Photographic Archivist, Katie Perry. After researching and digitizing thousands of Strout's photographs, Perry offers a distinct perspective and a brilliant overview of the collection.Though Strout’s reputation faded as his images—primarily glass plate and film negatives he left behind upon his death—remained inaccessible for most of the 20th century, Strout's photographs and personal papers are now discoverable and open for research.

Support for this project provided by Khoi Hong and Kristin Strout P'26, Benjamin S. Strout and members of the extended Strout Family.

Hosted By

George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives | Website | View More Events
Co-hosted with: Bowdoin College Library