Civil War Photography Program Comes to Chester

The Chester Historical Society will feature a lecture "Ere the Shadows Fade: New Jersey's Civil War Era Photographers" on Saturday, April 27 at 10 a.m. at the Chester Library, 250 West Main Street, in Chester.  

Gary Saretzky, Monmouth County Archivist and photographer will deliver the lecture, which features several notable examples of New Jersey's Civil War era photographers and describes how the war boosted the photographic trade as more and more soldiers and families sought images of loved ones.

Photographers opened galleries throughout the state, and some traveled with the troops, including in the South. Many formal photographs of military officers are posed with a hand tucked in between buttons on their uniforms. Photographs served many purposes and became an invaluable record-keeping medium.

Saretzky lectures regularly on topics related to the history of photography and preserving photographs.  He has published numerous articles and reviews on the history of photography, and his photographs have been in more than one hundred exhibitions.

The program is open to the public free of charge and refreshments will be served.

More information on this program and the Chester Historical Society can be found at the Society's web site.