In 1994, as the state of Wisconsin began preparing for its sesquicentennial, staff at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin proposed contributing a rephotography project to the festivities scheduled for 1998. In what eventually became a traveling exhibition, teaching guide, and several publications, the project sparked the efforts of twenty-four contemporary photographers, who produced approximately 240 photographs which were paired with older images primarily drawn from the holdings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Private individuals, including the Gilbert family and the estate of Mrs. Betty Taylor, and other institutions, such as the Sheboygan County Center for Historical Research and the Kohler Company, also provided historical images used in this project.
Rephotography, in this context, is defined as the act of producing a new photograph to repeat or match an older existing image that presents the viewer with an insight into the life of a person or place by connecting moments selected out of the stream of time. As Nicolette Bromberg notes, “When viewed as a unit, the two photographs change the context of what we see by adding a history--implied or obvious--to expand our knowledge. They become more than just the two separate meanings but rather create a triad of meaning--then, now, and connected through time.”
Before committing funds to the project, administrators of the State Historical Society directed Nicolette Bromberg, in her role as Curator of Visual Materials, to undertake a pilot project using volunteers from the Madison Photography Club. Eight photographers, including Ellen Shoshany Kaim, Yaniv Laziny, Doug McGoldrick, Dick Rossin, Don Sylvester, Trudi Theisen and Stephanie Voss, were given copies of historical images of Madison, Wisconsin, and asked to reproduce them. The forty images produced by these volunteers convinced those involved that the project was not only viable, but also likely to generate work of lasting historical value.
Names of potential photographers were then solicited and a number of artists were invited to submit their portfolios for consideration. The photographers chosen to participate--including Andy Baugnet, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Jerry Dell, Green Bay; Tim Evans, Madison; Chris Faust, St. Paul, Minnesota; David Heberlein, River Falls; Drake Hokanson, La Crosse; Robert Hudovernik, Cascade; Image Studios (Karla Kaphaem, Jeff Lendrum, John Luke, Ron Page, Dave Wallace, and Jim Weiland), Appleton; Earl Iverson, Lawrence, Kansas; Lewis Koch, Madison; Rich Maciejewski, Sheboygan; Bob Rashid, Madison; Karry Ritter, Madison; Kristina Rothe, Green Bay; J. Shimon and J. Lindemann, Manitowoc; Michael Simon, Beloit; Ray Spicer, Omro; and Jacob Stockinger, Madison--began their work in late 1996 and continued to photograph until September 1997, although circumstances did delay two final projects until early 1998. A display of about half of the rephotographic pairs opened at the State Historical Museum in January 1998 and four smaller exhibitions, organized around the themes of “Work,” “Home and Community,” “Rural and Urban Landscape,” and “Dane County,” traveled across the state during that year. In addition to the exhibitions, a 1998 sesquicentennial calendar with thirteen of the image pairs came out for the celebration as did a fourth-grade teaching guide entitled “Another Look: Wisconsin Photographs Past and Present,” which provided teachers with ideas on how to teach photographic analysis in their classrooms.
At the beginning of the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Rephotography Project, the photographers came to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin to examine a selection of historical photographs. The final form of the images resulted from a collaboration of society staff, the photographers, their subjects, and the many local citizens who assisted the photographers. The actual results of the project evolved over time depending upon what the photographers found when they went out to make their photographs. Indeed, the photographers involved in the project responded to the idea of “rephotography” in a variety of ways. Some used the more traditional approach of recreating the angle, lighting, and mise-en-scène of the original image, while others chose to represent activities and thematic content rather than place. Some elected to highlight continuity while others chose to emphasize change and several even offered an interpretation of the historical image rather than a re-creation.
