Belle Johnson Self-Portrait 14.1 Cm X 9.8 Cm | C

© Massillon Museum 2011 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Judy Paquelet, Chairman Massillon Museum Elizabeth Pruitt, Vice Chairman 121 Lincoln Way East Maude Slagle, Treasurer/Secretary Massillon, Ohio 44646 Carey McDougall, Executive Committee Member 330.833.4061 Joe Herrick www.massillonmuseum.org Shane Jackson facesofruralamerica.org Wendy Little Jeff McMahan Edward D. Murray ISBN Gloria Pope 978-0-9830553-2-7 Brad Richardson LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CONTROL NUMBER Keith Warstler 2011930014

CORPORATE SPONSORS Alexandra Nicholis, Curator Massillon Cable TV Massillon Eagles #190 Shearer’s Food, Inc. Bonnie’s Engravers Gallery and Signs FACES OF RURAL AMERICA PROJECT TEAM: Connect USA, Inc. Hilary Brentin Aqua Ohio Brian Donovan Sol—Harris/Day Architects Jody Hawk The Eye Clinic, Inc. Alexandra Nicholis The Health Plan Mandy Altimus Pond Memory Productions Andrew Preston Keller’s Office Furniture Robert Garner—State Farm Cristina Savu Christine Fowler Shearer Emily Ritchie Vigil Margy Vogt

FRONT COVER Belle Johnson Self-Portrait 14.1 cm x 9.8 cm | c. 1900 Gelatin Silver Print BC 1877.2.3 | Massillon Museum Collection Gift of William L. Bennett

PREVIOUS PAGE Belle Johnson Youth (Portrait of a Boy in a Straw Hat) 16.8 cm x 11.8 cm | c. 1900 Gelatin Silver Print BC 1877.1.2 | Massillon Museum Collection Gift of William L. Bennett

OPPOSITE PAGE Belle Johnson ArtsinStark Snowy Field 11.9 cm x 16.6 cm | c. 1905 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.95 | Massillon Museum Collection Gift of William L. Bennett FACE S of Rural Americ A

Belle Johnson

CONTENTS

Faces of Rural America ...... 5 —Alexandra Nicholis

Miss Belle Johnson’s Photographs Captured the Spirit of Monroe City, Missouri ...... 10 —Nancy Stone

Plates ...... 18

Timeline ...... 76

Acknowledgments...... 78

Authors ...... 80

MASSILLON MUSEUM June 11 to October 9, 2011 Belle Johnson Self-Portrait 10.6 cm x 9.8 cm | 1904 Aristoprint BC 1877.2.1 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

Belle Johnson negative envelope 11.43 cm x 17.145 cm Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of Linda Geist

4 Belle Johnson’s Faces of Rural America —Alexandra Nicholis

Museums have a responsibility to preserve history, as preservation is at the very core of what defines them. But, museums also have a responsibility to be proactive, particularly when it comes to recording oral histories. The public relies on museums to assume a leadership role in defining the ways our heritage is not only cared for, but documented. We cannot afford to wait for individuals to approach us with their stories. We need to seek them out, encourage them to share with us memories that can help shape our understanding of history and precipitate a more widespread appreciation for the oral traditions that transmit invaluable information from generation to generation. Despite our fascination with our own family histories, so often we take for granted the opportunity to ask important questions of our ancestors while they are alive. Taking the time to sit with them, record a conversation, or ask for help identifying subjects of photographs is not something we often make time for when it matters most. With the advent and popularity of StoryCorps,1 a project initiated by National Public Radio, more people are becoming aware of just how important oral histories are to preserving not only our memories, but our collective American heritage. Oftentimes people will question why we value their stories, particularly if they are not attached to a major historical event. It is important for us, as museum professionals, to reinforce the fact that these stories, no matter how seemingly uneventful, help preserve information about the course of everyday life in a particular era. In an age of digital communication where information is exchanged with rapidity but rarely archived, concentrating on oral history projects becomes all the more crucial. The decline of letter writing makes our historical paper trails scarcer each day. Oral histories have given us firsthand accounts of business owners, veterans, former slaves, athletes, and politicians. With assistance from the Institute of Museum and Library services, the Massillon Museum was able to assemble the project we have dubbed Faces of Rural America. Initially, the project impetus was to exhibit and record the efforts of two American photographers, neither of which has a direct connection to Massillon. Yet, both Henry Clay Fleming and Belle Johnson have fascinated and delighted Museum staff and visitors for years. We are proud to be the caretaker of their photographs, which are inherently American in their subject matter. Were it not for her correspondence with friend and fellow photographer, William Loren Bennett, residents of Massillon, Ohio, may never have become familiar with Belle Johnson. Bennett was a native of Navarre, a town adjacent to Massillon, which is similarly located along the Ohio and Erie Canal. The waterway inspired Bennett to photograph its numerous locks and scenic locations, many examples of which also reside in the collection of the Massillon Museum. Though how the two came to know one another is uncertain, it seems likely that they became acquainted at a photographic salon or convention. As an extension of the pride Johnson took in her work—or perhaps her signs of affection—she sent more than two hundred photographs to Bennett, starting in 1901. Bennett donated his photographic collection to the Museum in 1946; the donation included the Belle Johnson photographs. The collection of images held by the Massillon Museum presents only a vague sense of who Johnson was as a photographer; they encapsulate about a fifteen-year period of her artistic and award-winning ventures. Before embarking upon the Faces of Rural America project—which opened a dialogue between the Massillon Museum staff and residents of Monroe City—we had never imagined how extensively Belle Johnson’s photographic career spanned time and subject matter. The Museum’s knowledge of her work was limited to that which was more narrative and pictorial in nature: genre images of women reading and tatting, a forlorn-looking tramp on interlude between his railroad adventures, floral still lifes, farm scenes, and idyllic portraits of children.2 In an effort to document the legacy of Belle Johnson and her multidimensional body of work, the Monroe City Arts Council produced a book about the photographer in 2000 which, for the first time, reflected her stylistic range. And, having witnessed an even larger compendium of Johnson’s work

5 that resulted from a week’s worth of meeting with Monroe City citizens, scanning their photographs, and extensive communication and image sharing before and after the Massillon Museum staff’s visit in February 2010, it can now be fully deduced that Johnson maintained a comfortable balance between articulating her artistic vision and capturing over half a century of faces and places in Monroe City. As Monroe City’s official photographer, she chronicled the town as well as the countryside. Images of newborns and newlyweds, students and servicemen, and flora and fauna make up her repertoire. The formats of these photographs assume a multitude of sizes, matting styles, tones, colors, papers, and printing techniques. Although she can be credited with preserving more than fifty years of Monroe City’s history, it seems as though Belle Johnson reserved The Studio as a sort of enchanted space, suspended in time and immune from the rigor and hardship of real life that transpired on the streets below.3 As Nancy Stone’s essay in this catalog states, the photography Belle Johnson produced in the latter part of her career “did not include photos of the town as it modernized.” Rather, her photographs romanticize life in a small rural town, singling out and elevating even the most ordinary activities like blowing bubbles, playing checkers, and reading a book. While these activities also conjure ideas of childhood and leisure associated with the Victorian upper class, in Johnson’s photographs they function as character studies, rather than documentary evidence of life growing up in a small town. The photographer was transparent in her staging of these photographs; they do not let on to be anything more than really beautiful pictures. And though overwhelmingly whimsical, her subjects are humanized, shown in mid-conversation, laughing and smiling, enjoying the company of neighbors, friends, and family. Johnson dedicated time in her studio and darkroom to exploring and experimenting with photography’s capacity for purely artistic expression. All visible elements from the background to the foreground of her images were executed with painstaking care. From the initial staging of a shoot to the final presentation of a print, Johnson was a masterful technician. Not only do her compositions reveal a great deal of thought in the use of props, gestures, and other anecdotal devices, her ability to manipulate light and shadow to create a particular mood and atmosphere indicates her command of the photographic medium. Miss Belle—as she was known locally—took great pride in her work and operated The Studio with the highest level of professionalism. Most all of her commissioned photographs were presented in handsome decorative mats, her name or initials embossed upon them. She proudly showcased her prize-winning photographs at the base of the studio staircase, which led upwards to a lavishly decorated waiting room. The Studio walls were lined with thick green velvet curtains and a large skylight allowed her access to the most important photographic ingredient.4 She experimented with a variety of color and toning in her printing. A studio assistant, Miss Julia McClintic, did most of Miss Belle’s retouching and finishing work on the photographs.5 As the town’s sole photographer, Johnson would find herself overwhelmed with work at times, validating the need for an assistant.6

Portrait of Robert L. Hawkins, Sr., c. 1910 Collection of Col. Robert L. Hawkins, Jr., U.S.A. Ret. Portrait of Ellen and Ethel Dinwiddle, c. 1914 Collection of Donald LaRue

6 Belle Johnson was frequently published in trade magazines and journals, indicating a penchant for sharing her work and a willingness to accept criticism. She often commented on issues of gender in the photographic field, strongly defending a woman’s ability to achieve a level of success equal to that of her male contemporaries.7 Miss Belle’s entrance into the world of photography demonstrated her defiance of the social construct which defined the Victorian era and its gender bias. She answered an 1890 call for a studio job in Monroe City which specifically advertised that the photographer “wished a boy to assist him.”8 In less than a month’s time, Belle Johnson had assumed ownership of the business. By 1909, she was Vice President of the Women’s Section of the Photographers’ Association of America, and wrote confidently in the journal Studio Light and the Aristo Eagle that “While woman’s place in our profession is so thoroughly established and so universally accepted as an accomplished fact that it needs no separate section of the P.A. of A. to gain recognition, it is certain that great good can come from this movement.”9 Interestingly, this entry appears just below that of fellow P.A. of A. member, Gertrude Kasebier, who is among the most well-known and celebrated female photographers in the history of the medium.10 Johnson’s photographs in the Massillon Museum collection are mostly Aristoprints, which can often be characterized by the deep, glossy red or sepia finish of images like “Three Women with Long Hair” (Plate 3).11 Aristoprint images—created by the collodion method—never fade, and it is therefore likely that, in addition to the unique aesthetic of these images, Johnson appreciated the permanence of the Aristo process.12 Unlike gelatin silver prints—what we typically think of as black and white glossy prints—the collodion emulsion is very thin, fragile, and prone to abrasion. While these Aristoprints can look similar to gelatin silver, the process does not include a silver bath in the developing stage.13 Though Aristoprints had fallen out of favor by World War I, it appears as though Johnson continued to make them from glass plate negatives beyond this point. Examples of her gelatin silver prints—though mostly on matte papers—do exist, and are seen primarily in her commercial portraits. This might indicate that she reserved the Aristoprints for artistic purposes, and gelatin silver for commissioned portraits.

Belle Johnson Another reason for initiating the Faces Ruth Clark in a Pleated Dress with Flowers of Rural America project was to learn 20.32 cm x 12.7 cm | c. 1896–1902 more about Johnson’s artistic method Glass Plate Negative Collection of Fred McClintic and photographic process. Unlike Henry Clay Fleming, whose work we only knew from glass plate negatives before beginning this project, all we knew of Belle’s photographic process were her prints. We therefore had no knowledge of the extent to which she cropped and made other artistic choices between developing the negative and making the print. A wonderful moment happened during the Museum staff’s time in Monroe City. This moment was the kind a researcher always hopes for. Fred McClintic from Kirkwood, Missouri, came forth during our visit with a collection of nine Belle Johnson negatives. It was common knowledge that, following her death, Belle Johnson’s entire inventory of glass plate negatives was destroyed. As her studio was being dismantled, Ruby Byland watched with great concern, “the destruction of many valuable 7 records…Glass plates were dumped into an old well by the truck-load, others were flushed down a drain. Belle Johnson was a great artist as well as a collector of history. Destruction of her work was unfortunate.”14 McClintic’s father, William, upon witnessing the senseless loss of so much valuable history, managed to salvage a few plates, some of which were in perfect condition. When McClintic heard about the Massillon Museum’s project, he decided to pay the research team a visit. The chances of our finding a match between one of few extant negatives and a known Johnson photograph were incredibly slim; but, miraculously, it happened. We were ecstatic upon learning that one of McClintic's negatives was a match to a print in the Museum's collection. We had struck historical gold. For the first time, we can see the ways in which Belle Johnson translated what she captured inside the camera to a finished print. (See Plate 10) McClintic was gracious enough to loan the five-by-eight-inch negative to the Museum for this exhibition, giving audiences an opportunity to witness and understand Belle Johnson’s creative process more fully. From what we learn of life growing up in Monroe City through the oral histories of its residents, Belle Johnson’s photographs do capture the feeling of comfort, happiness, and quiet satisfaction that comes with living in a place balanced by the benefits of a lively downtown within minutes of a serene countryside. There is an overall sense of ease and simplicity about them that reflects the slower pace at which a day must have moved, absent from much of the hustle and bustle that defines our world today. The faces in Johnson’s photographs are engaging on a level entirely different from those of her contemporary, Henry Clay Fleming. Contrary to the abraded, roughly-hewn yet truthful representations of the Ravenswood citizens, her photographs introduce the faces of Monroe City in a softer, more approachable way. Certainly the way in which she toned and colored her prints that resulted in rich, deep browns with hints of red and warm, brassy oranges imparts a different mood in contrast to the cooler, more distant feeling in the Ravenswood negatives. Though class distinctions do exist among Johnson’s portraits—evident in photographs of farmhands and tramps —Johnson treated her subjects as though they were characters in a play. She emphasized the beauty to be found in a woman’s face wrinkled heavily by time, and the wisdom symbolized by a thick, course beard of white. Similarly, the power conveyed by the youthful innocence of a child and the sweetness of a kitten were not lost on her. Like the Massillon Museum, Belle Johnson’s photography studio was located on the site of a former dry goods store. Though evidence of the meticulous inventory of photographs and negatives Johnson maintained in her studio no longer exists, her commitment to documenting the lives of Monroe City residents is apparent in the fact that nearly every citizen has at least a small collection of her photographs.15 Many who were photographed by her remember the experience fondly; younger generations are able to recall stories relayed by their parents and grandparents about Miss Belle’s kindness, quirky personality, or affinity for taking candid portraits. And while the tradition of storytelling has kept cultures and traditions alive in our hearts and minds for centuries, without more concrete records, we run the risk of losing important history and scholarship forever. Had the Museum initiated this project even a decade earlier, we would have had access to more individuals whose stories and photographs could have helped to identify many more of our anonymous portrait subjects. The Massillon Museum has, like numerous museums and historical sites, made the collecting of oral histories a priority. Leaders in the Massillon community who helped shape the city by working in the steel mills, coaching our high school football team and directing the band, developing new industry, building bridges, teaching our students, and protecting this country are those with whom we have scheduled time to sit, listen, talk, and record. This project is one that we hope will inspire others to begin recording the stories that will inform our understanding of history for centuries to come.

8 1 The mission of StoryCorps is to “provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.” All StoryCorps recordings are archived with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps, 2010. http://storycorps.org/ 2 Ruby Byland disputed the fact that the image of a tramp—among Belle Johnson’s more celebrated photographs— was in fact a local farmer. She wrote in a letter dated June 19, 1969 to former Massillon Museum curator, Albert Hise, that “ ‘Miss Belle’ claimed it to be a picture of a tramp whose appearance appealed to her early one morning as she came to work. The very relaxed attractive face won several awards. The man was a farmer, a neighbor of ours who sold wood, brought it in early. We could never convince her of his identity. But she was always ready to catch an interesting subject.” During our visits, residents of both Monroe City and Ravenswood, West Virginia, recalled stories of the tramps coming through town. 3 Belle Johnson’s photography business was referred to as The Studio. 4 Dean Howd, “The Photography of Belle Johnson from Monroe City, Missouri,” Western Illinois Regional Studies 10, no. 2 (Fall 1987): 37. 5 In her June 19 letter to Hise, Byland said, “During the time I knew her all of her re-touching was done by Miss Julia McClintic, Monroe City, Mo. I think a great deal of credit should be given her.” Robert Hawkins of Jefferson City, MO, owns a portrait of his father that is among the few examples seen by Massillon Museum staff of the hand- coloring of which Byland speaks. Dean Howd’s journal article also makes mention of the fact that crayons, india ink, and pastels were employed in coloring Johnson’s photographs. 6 Johnson wrote in a letter to William Bennett that her assistant Julia was away on leave to care for her ill mother, and in her absence Johnson had been entertaining eight sittings in one day, twenty in a week, and did not know how she would have time to finish all of her portraits. Belle Johnson to William Bennett, December 10, 1905. Massillon Museum archives, Massillon, Ohio. 7 “From my entrance into the profession I have been on a common footing with the men.” Belle Johnson, letter to the editor, Abel’s Photographic Weekly, July 19, 1919. 8 F.J.C. “Miss Belle Johnson and Her Work,” Western Camera Notes VI, no.10 (October 1903): 243. 9 Submission appearing in Studio Light and the Aristo Exposure: A Magazine of Information for the Profession 1, No. 9 (November 1909): 18. 10 Best known for her portraits, Gertrude Kasebier (1852-1934) was among the founding members of the Photo- Secession group, along with friend Alfred Stieglitz. She operated a photography studio in New York for a number of years, was frequently published in Camera Work, and exhibited her work internationally. 11 According to Mark Osterman, Photographic Process Historian for the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, NY, the reddish glossy Belle Johnson prints appear to be an untoned or undertoned collodion Aristotype prints. “The Aristotype company made both gelatin and collodion silver chloride printing out papers in glossy. Both were toned with gold bringing the untoned, deep orange color cooler depending on the depth of printing and toning. The company also made matte collodion papers toned with both gold and platinum.” Mark Osterman, email to author, May 26, 2011. 12 In an email written to the author on May 25, 2011, Osterman stated that images on collodion never fade. Collodion was first used in the photographic process by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851; it was primarily used beforehand as a binding agent in dressing wounds. The Aristo Company out of Jamestown, NY, first manufactured collodion-chloride Aristo papers in 1889. Mark Osterman, “Some Important Dates in the Evolution of Gelatin and Collodion-Chloride Printing-Out Papers.” (Rochester, NY: George Eastman House, 2006). 13 “By the 1890s, the collodion papers, then called ‘Aristotypes,’ were extremely popular with commercial portrait photographers who made the prints I had originally found. Made in both glossy and matte surfaces, the paper was made well into the 1930s in Germany and Russia. This isn’t wet collodion — collodion chloride is an emulsion process. There isn’t any silver bath.” Mark Osterman, “Collodion Chloride: A Most Amazing Discovery,” The George Eastman House Blog, February 17, 2011. http://blog.eastmanhouse.org/2011/02/17/collodion-chloride-a-most-amazing-discovery/ 14 Byland to Hise, April 15, 1969. Massillon Museum archives, Massillon, Ohio. 15 Ibid. Byland worked in Johnson’s Studio for many years. She noted that “One job of mine was to keep files in order. She had bought the business from a previous owner and the files were a very complete history of the time and era.”

9 Miss Belle Johnson’s Photographs Captured the Spirit of Monroe City, Missouri —Nancy Stone

Belle Johnson was born near the end of the Civil War on August 4, 1864, in the farming community of Mendota in North Central Illinois. She was a daughter of George C. and Hanna Corey Johnson, who were natives of New Hampshire. Her father was one of the two wealthiest farmers in Mendota, which afforded his daughters the advantage of a good education beyond the public schools.1 Belle attended St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, from 1882 to 1884, where she received top honors for excellent work in astronomy, logic, and English composition.2 After graduation at age twenty, she moved to Warren, Marion County, Missouri, near Monroe City in northeastern Missouri, to live with her older sister, Mary Walker. Mary had attended the Monroe City Institute for four years and married R. Manning Walker on April 27, 1877. His sister was the wife of The Reverend George P. Comings, one of the founders of the Institute. Walker opened a jewelry store on Winter Street in Monroe City in 1885, and like many businessmen of his day, he continued to farm. When Monroe County was formed from Ralls County on January 6, 1831, and named for James Monroe, fifth President of the United States, there were already several population centers along the fertile and heavily wooded tributaries of the Salt River. Most, like the county seat of Paris, had been settled primarily by families from Kentucky and the southern states. They brought with them their southern culture, and by 1860 slaves comprised about twenty percent of the population. The land in the northeast corner of Monroe County, just 25 miles west of Hannibal, was part of a high prairie, rich in grass but poor in timber and streams that were essential to raising food crops and supporting an agricultural lifestyle. The land that became Monroe City was originally purchased by investors from New York and held for resale. In 1852 when the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad announced its intent to connect those two river port cities—then second and third largest in the state behind St. Louis—others recognized the opportunity for the farmers of Monroe and the surrounding counties of Ralls, Marion, and Shelby, to reach eastern markets. E.B. Talcott was at that time partner with John Duff in the contract for building the railroad. This placed him in a position to know where stations would be needed. He purchased the east half of Section 13, Township 56, Range 8, from William M. Halstead of New York at $5 an acre, for a total of $1600. Halstead had purchased the land in 1837 at the going rate of $1.25 an acre. Two years later, in 1856, Talcott laid out 160 acres of his land into the original town of Monroe. On the Fourth of July, 1857, an old-fashioned barbecue was held and a public sale of lots took place. Several of the purchasers, who came primarily from the northern states, immediately began to build wooden stores and dwellings. By the close of the year the place began to assume a village-like appearance and was known as Monroe Station. The Monroe City Institute was built in the summer of 1860 and became a leading college of northeast Missouri. Many of the citizens of the community received all or part of their education in its halls. It also attracted students, like Mary Johnson Walker, from the surrounding states. By 1861 it became clear that Civil War was inevitable and Monroe Station became an important post for the transportation of Federal troops and supplies across northern Missouri. Missouri Governor Claiborne Jackson was a southern man who initially called for the state’s neutrality. However, on April 12, 1861, Confederate troops attacked Fort Sumter and President Abraham Lincoln issued the call for 75,000 volunteers to put down the insurrection. Governor Jackson proclaimed that he would “not furnish a man from the State of Missouri for such an unholy crusade.”3 After Federal troops seized control of the Missouri arsenal at St. Louis on April 29, 1861, Governor Jackson and many ranking elected officials rallied troops in defense of the state and fled the capital at Jefferson City. Monroe County furnished hundreds of men in sympathy with the Governor’s position and in support of the southern states’ secession from the Union. Several companies of Confederate troops were quickly formed in Monroe and surrounding counties. One of the largest training camps was established near the village of Florida, birthplace of noted author and humorist Mark Twain, about twelve miles southwest of Monroe Station. In early July, Confederate sympathizers burned the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad Bridge a few miles west of

10 Monroe Station. Ulysses S. Grant was called to supervise rebuilding of the bridge and flush the Confederates from their training camp at Florida.4 The Confederates had been alerted to the arrival of Federal troops and abandoned their camp at Florida. Union forces, under the command of Colonel Smith, had left the depot at Monroe Station unguarded and the Secessionists set fire to the depot. On July 10, 1861, Smith’s company circled back to Monroe Station and, finding the town occupied by Confederates, sought refuge in the Monroe Institute. The Secessionist troops proceeded to cannonade the Institute until Union reinforcements arrived. The war interfered with the growth of the town, but population increased as prosperity returned. Additions were made and the town was incorporated as Monroe City in 1869. On August 21, 1871, the Hannibal & Central Missouri Railroad was completed through Monroe City between Hannibal and Moberly, Missouri, giving Monroe City a second major railroad for area farmers from which to ship farm products and receive supplies. Miss Belle Johnson—as she came to be known—arrived in Monroe City about 1885 to find a thriving community with a population of just over 1,000. The fastest growing town in Monroe County, it had eleven stores for dry goods, groceries, and general merchandise; three drug stores; one bank; one printing office; two hardware and tin stores; two furniture stores; two wagon and carriage manufactories; an agricultural implements manufacturer; one marble yard; one flouring mill; one jeweler; one lumber yard; two schools; and two hotels. The little town soon became known as “Queen of the Prairie.” Belle Johnson had always loved photography and apparently developed her skills after finishing college. As fate would have it, in 1890 a local studio, owned by a Mr. Rippey, advertised for a photographer’s assistant. Belle quickly secured the job. She took over the gallery after just three weeks and was running the business on her own within six months. Within four years she became Monroe City’s leading photographer. A special section of the Monroe City News, published May 24, 1894, said: “In the matter of elegant quarters and thorough equipment for producing the best results known to modern photography, the studio of Miss Belle Johnson is a model in every way. Its location occupies second floor space on the south side of West Winter Street, where it is divided into four cozy rooms, they being conveniently arranged for the purpose. Miss Johnson has been engaged in this branch of business in Monroe City for the past four years and has a good and growing patronage. She makes a specialty of fine cabinet pictures, the same being produced by the Aristo process, which never fades and can be cleaned when in any manner soiled. She is also prepared to enlarge old pictures and do work in crayon, India ink and pastel, the latter work being done by eastern artists. This estimable lady not only caters to some of the best city trade, but also draws a large patronage from the surrounding country, and is one of the most artistic photographers in this section of the state, as is evidenced by the fine work on exhibition at her rooms. Monroe City is fortunate in possessing such an able representative of this beautiful art.”5

Monroe City Hospital, East Summer Street, c. 1907 Courtesy of The Lake Gazette

11 In February of 1899, Monroe City suffered a devastating fire in the block that housed Miss Johnson’s studio. Everything was moved out and she worked out of Robertshaw’s studio until again opening her own in 1902 above her brother-in-law’s jewelry store on the north side of Winter Street. The Monroe City News announcement of her opening said she was located at the first stairway west of the Monroe City bank. In later years, many patrons recalled climbing those steep stairs for family photographs that became prized possessions. Not only was Miss Belle Johnson the chronicler of Monroe City’s early history in her photos, documenting more than a half century, but she achieved national status in her chosen profession. She was a charter member of the Photographic Association of Missouri in 1894 and received third place in competition with thirty-five entries. The two higher awards were only one-third of a point above her entry. Belle Johnson and her camera witnessed the changes in Monroe City as the town saw a boom period in the early 1900s. Her photos for the June 27, 1907 “Progress Edition” of the Monroe City News included many of the town’s elaborate brick business buildings, stately residences, and churches. By that time there were seven churches, two schools—the public graded school and Holy Rosary Catholic School, two depots with six passenger trains arriving daily, a hospital, two banks, two weekly newspapers, an electric light plant, seven and one-half miles of gravel roads, an opera house, two banks, two hotels, two telephone systems, and 2,500 inhabitants. The town also supported a large flour mill, feed mill, and carding mill. The automobile had not yet replaced horse power and there were a variety of businesses, from blacksmiths to carriage factories, which supported the farm community’s needs.

Some of Belle Johnson’s prize medals for her photographic artistry— photographed by Belle Johnson. 14.6 cm x 23.2 cm Aristoprint BC 1877.6.18 Massillon Museum Collection Gift of William L. Bennett

By 1907 Miss Belle had received thirteen medals in international photography competitions. Her photographs of the town and its people graced the covers of trade magazines, and the Eastman Kodak Company bought many of her photographs for use in advertisements in magazines such as National Geographic. According to a history of her work published in 2000 by the Monroe City Arts Council, The Legacy of Belle Johnson, “The measure of her singular success in what was mainly a man’s world can best be understood by her own words. She asked no quarter because of her being a woman and brooked no sympathy because she felt no discrimination whatsoever. She simply chose to be as good, or better, than her male counterparts.”6 Her effective use of light became her trademark, as did the candid shots she managed to capture before the subjects were aware they were being photographed. Her work included many family groups, high school graduating classes, and sports teams. Her studio had skylights, which provided the sunlight necessary to produce her glass plate negatives, which she used until 1912.7 At least one of her newspaper ads warned parents to bring their children in before two o’clock so she could complete a sitting before the sun started to set.

12 Hand-colored postcard showing Monroe City’s Main Street, c. 1908 Collection of Fred McClintic

By 1916, the City of Monroe had installed electric lights with continuous service, built a water works and sewerage system, paved the major city streets, and was negotiating to build a Carnegie Library. The Monroe City News said, “We are hardly to be called a small town now, so many of our business houses have been remodeled and new ones built until we have really taken on a cosmopolitan air.” The automobile was becoming a popular mode of transportation, and Belle Johnson’s brother-in-law, Ralph Manning Walker, owned the first one in Monroe City. As of June 30, 1916, there were 402 automobiles licensed in Monroe County. War with Germany was declared by President Woodrow Wilson April 6, 1917, and Monroe City citizens did their part to support bond drives and rationing requirements. We know that Belle Johnson was active in civic affairs and probably participated in many of the activities sponsored by local women’s organizations. Although few of the photographs that she took of World War I soldiers survive, many World War II soldiers visited her studio to be photographed in uniform. (See Plate 46) For many years Miss Belle hauled her cumbersome equipment around the countryside to photograph landscape and farm imagery. Her love of animals—particularly her cats—and people may not have extended to the automobile and the changes that were taking place in Monroe City and rural Missouri. Her later work did not include photographs of the town as it modernized. Monroe City took on a new look as the automobile replaced the horse. By the spring of 1927, it had twenty-two miles of paved and hard-surfaced streets. State Route 10, now U.S. Highway 24, was being built from Monroe City through Moberly to Kansas City, making Monroe an integral link in the new cross-country road. Highway 24 roughly paralleled the Wabash Railroad, which had given Monroe a second railroad a half century before. The Pikes Peak Ocean-to-Ocean Highway, State Highway 8 (now U.S. Highway 36), was completed in 1930, and Monroe City businesses began the exodus from downtown to the new highway at the north edge of town in anticipation of the greatest volume of long-distance traffic that ever existed in the United States. Ralph Manning Walker died May 2, 1928, and Miss Susan McClintic, who had worked in the jewelry store for several years fitting eyeglasses, bought the business and continued it under the Walker name. Belle Johnson and another sister, Mrs. Mattie Hannah, lived with Mary Walker on the family farm7 until Mary’s death on August 19, 1933.8 Belle and Mattie continued to live together in the studio above the jewelry store in Monroe City. During World War II they wrote many letters to Bob Nickerson, a local serviceman, and referred to themselves as “The Studio Dwellers.”9 Miss Belle continued to work in her studio until shortly before her death on July 19, 1945; she was just two weeks shy of being eighty-one years old. 13 Looking east on Second Street, c. 1907 Courtesy of The Lake Gazette

Poultry and die casting became Monroe City’s largest industries. At the time of Belle Johnson’s death, Henderson Produce Company was Monroe City’s largest employer with a local payroll of about 300 people. The egg business traditionally generated much-needed income for area farm families. As early as 1874, there were 38,900 dozen eggs shipped from Monroe City. Local merchants often took eggs, butter, and garden produce as payment for their merchandise, then sold them to town residents and shipped the surplus to eastern cities. The shipment of live poultry soon followed in importance. The August 30, 1883, issue of the Monroe City NEWS reported: “Over 100 dozen chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese were received here last week by McNeily & Phillips, the famous poultry buyers. Poultry raising is a profitable business, and we have heard several persons in this vicinity speak of going into it on a large scale next year.” To ensure quality flocks, the Monroe City Poultry Association was formed in March, 1885. A number of businessmen helped the fledgling poultry and egg business grow between 1885 and 1904, when poultry and eggs out-produced all other categories of farm products in Monroe County. John H. Nolen, chief clerk in the office of labor commissioner at Jefferson City in 1904, said: “The county leads in the shipments of live poultry, blue grass seeds and wool, three important items. The value of hogs, horses, sheep, cattle and mules, computed at the average prevailing prices, amounted to $1,068,756.00, while the value of the poultry and eggs brought the enormous sum of $1,671,703.78. [At the prevailing prices, that converted to 585,509 pounds of dressed poultry, 17,883,641 pounds of live poultry and 1,141,010 dozen eggs.] The hen, including her eggs and the poultry, lacks only a few dollars of producing one half the value of all the surplus products of the county.”10 Jasper Henderson, a grocery and poultry man from Paris, Missouri, moved to Monroe City in late October, 1898. He bought out the Shelby Poultry Company in 1906 and started an expansion that would make Henderson Produce the largest employer in Monroe City for over 60 years. In 1915, Jasper Henderson retired and his son Claude became head of the company. He developed an extensive business in northeast Missouri, eventually opening fourteen plants and employing more than 800 people. During the 1920s, thousands of geese and turkeys were fed and marketed during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, including one Christmas goose for the White House. In 1929, a process was developed to separate the egg whites from the yolks, freeze them, and ship them to bakeries and canneries across the county. In 1942 Henderson Produce began drying liquid eggs, a process that allowed eggs to be shipped anywhere in the world without refrigeration. The company received the Army Navy “E” Award on November 5, 1943, for their contributions to the World War II effort to feed troops overseas. Claude Henderson died in June 1945, and his son-in-law, Mark Swearengen, became manager and president of the company. Under his leadership many new technologies were developed and the plant in Monroe City was expanded to include buildings on both sides of Winter Street.

14 In 1963, the business was sold to Seymour Foods, Inc. of Topeka, Kansas, and by 1968 the city sewage plant, which had been expanded just twelve years earlier, was no longer able to take care of the plant and the rest of the city. The Monroe City operation was downsized and by 1976 had only fourteen full-time and four part-time employees. It subsequently closed. Farm practices had, by then, begun to shift from small family farms to agribusiness, and Monroe City was changing to a more urban community. In April 1951, L.O. Kuhlman moved his manufacturing operation from Kansas City to Monroe City and opened Monroe City Diecasting Company. By 1976, when Monroe City celebrated the nation’s Bicentennial, several companies had been started by individuals who were formerly employed by L.O. Kuhlman. He was proud of his “students” and stated that he did not consider those spin-off companies direct competitors, but rather was proud of the part he had played in giving other young men their start in the growing industry. The largest of four “spin-off” companies was Diemakers, Inc., founded in 1960 by Don Westhoff, Albert Spalding, and George Spalding. By 1976, both Monroe City Diecasting Company and Diemakers, Inc. had undergone several expansions. They were, by then, providing jobs for 343 people from Monroe City and the surrounding area. During the 1980s and 1990s northeast Missouri was the diecasting capital of the nation, if not the world. In 1990, Monroe City Diecasting Company was leased to Pace Industries and in 1996 came under the corporate structure of Leggett & Platte Aluminum Group. Diemakers, Inc. was sold in 1990, when George Spalding retired. Both have since closed, greatly impacting the economy of Monroe City and surrounding area. Clarence Cannon Dam and Mark Twain Lake promised new prosperity. The seed of an idea for a lake that could be built around the little town of Florida was planted as early as 1924, when Mark Twain State Park was established. Like manufacturing, the concept would be a long time developing into a significant chapter of Monroe City’s history. The Joanna Dam project, as it was first called—after the small nearby Ralls County town on the Salt River below Florida—was not well received by many area residents. They felt the project would take valuable farmland out of production and do little more than create a giant “mud hole filled with dead fish” when such a reservoir was not filled for flood control. On March 10, 1958, over 1,000 people attended a meeting in Monroe City to revive the issue, and the Joanna Dam Association was formed with Monroe City realtor, Warren G. See, as president for the next twenty-seven years. Their expanded plans called for a multipurpose dam that would provide not only recreational and conservation opportunities, but hydroelectric power and flood control to the region. They believed the revised project would bring in industry and check the rural population loss of northeast Missouri. United States Congressman Clarence Cannon, from Elsberry, Missouri, gave the project his full support. The first funding legislation was passed in 1965, and the name of the project was changed to “Clarence Cannon Dam and Reservoir” on May 12, 1965, after Congressman Cannon’s death. Ground was broken for the project September 21, 1968. It was touted as a “significant milestone in the economic progress of Northeast Missouri and the entire state.”11 After more than twenty-five years in the making, the gates at the base of Cannon Dam were closed August 23, 1983, and as the Monroe City NEWS proclaimed, “the frequently temperamental and uncooperative Salt River” was under control.12 A flurry of new business activity sprang up in Monroe City in anticipation of millions of annual visitors to Mark Twain Lake. The town’s slogan was changed from “Queen of the Prairie” to “Gateway to Mark Twain Lake.” While the project did not significantly impact merchants, it did generate the building of many new homes in the Monroe City School District by those seeking the low-key lifestyle of the rural tri-county area near the popular recreation site.

15 Today, Belle Johnson would not recognize her hometown. Monroe City adopted a public high school system in 1885, and the popularity of the Monroe City Institute—which indirectly was responsible for Miss Belle Johnson’s settling near Monroe City—began to wane. It went through a series of owners and was once used as a rooming house. It stood vacant for many years and was finally demolished in 1989. Monroe’s Main Street business district between Catherine Street on the north and Dover Street on the south has probably never housed more than forty shops. Many housed professional offices or apartments on the second floor. The shops along Main, Summer, and Winter Streets that Miss Belle knew well were locally owned and operated, in many cases by families who had called Monroe City home for several generations. The railroads that helped build up the town in her day were replaced by automobiles and highways that drew business to larger communities. The local business activity began to shift from downtown to Highways 24 and 36 that met at the north side of Monroe City. In 1973, the Community Betterment Association and the Bicentennial Commission worked jointly to bring a facelift to downtown Monroe City. They were proud of the fact that after several years during which Monroe’s growth was at a standstill, by the end of 1972, there was not a single vacant building on Main Street. Before the nation celebrated its Bicentennial in 1976 Monroe City had quite a different look. The Monroe City Bank purchased the three buildings immediately west of the bank on Winter Street, including the old Walker Jewelry Store and Belle Johnson’s Studio, in 1973. They were razed to make room for a new drive-up banking lane for the Monroe City Bank, and the former Western Auto Store north of the bank building was incorporated into its facility. In 1975, Allen Nelson of Red Oak, Iowa, was hired by the Bicentennial Commission to design a new look for Monroe City’s downtown business district. The City and businessmen installed new sidewalks and fire hydrants, and many stores were remodeled. To further beautify the town, a flower box was built over the old town well (one of several in use before 1914) at the south end of the historic flatiron Farmers & Merchants Bank building, known locally as “The Wedge.” St. Jude’s cemetery, Miss Belle Johnson’s final resting place, was cleaned and trimmed in anticipation of not only Bicentennial visitors but increased traffic through town once Mark Twain Lake was opened. The Monroe City Theater at 210 North Main subsequently collapsed and the Gamble Store, Masonic Hall, Rupp Automotive, and the former Carps store south of the theater to Winter Street were razed. A parking lot, rather than new buildings, was added to the landscape of North Main. The Highway 36 bypass around Monroe City opened November 3, 1982. Many businesses had, by then, relocated from downtown to the old highway. A 1976 Bicentennial list of Monroe City merchants listed thirty-five between Catharine and Dover on Main Street. There were twenty-seven listed on Highways 36 & 24. Less than a decade later, the numbers had reversed. On Sunday, March 12, 2006, at approximately 10:00 p.m. the third tornado from a super cell that had cut a path of destruction across Monroe County hit Monroe City. The First Baptist Church, The Lake Gazette newspaper office, White Electric Supply, the Monroe City Sheltered Workshop, Sweet Shop, Joe Sandifer’s law office, some of the Robey Building Supply’s buildings, the Farmers Elevator and Exchange Co., and City Hall sustained the most serious structural damage in the downtown business district. Nearly every area of town incurred some type of damage. Monroe City, with the help of neighbors in surrounding towns, recovered from the storm, stronger for the experience. The community spirit that had been the heart of the town for 150 years prevailed, and thousands of visitors and former residents were on hand to celebrate the town’s sesquicentennial from June 1 through 3, 2007. To help celebrate that event, The Lake Gazette published Monroe City, Missouri, A Sesquicentennial History 1857–2007. The Monroe City Arts Council had published a collection of Miss Belle’s photographs in 2000. Many more examples of her work surfaced as current and former residents wrote their family histories for the sesquicentennial book, and Belle Johnson’s importance to the community was revived.

16 Emma Jo Mudd and Linda Geist examine Belle Johnson photograph reproductions at the Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame, 2008. Courtesy of Nancy Stone

During her career, Miss Belle had exchanged techniques, photographs, and information with a fellow photographer, William Loren Bennett, of Navarre, Ohio. At his death, his collection, including photos taken by Belle Johnson, was donated to the Massillon Museum. Linda Geist, founder and publisher of The Lake Gazette, obtained digital copies of Johnson’s work and had many of her prize-winning pictures printed by the Massillon Museum for display at St. Jude’s Church in Monroe City during the sesquicentennial celebration. On October 16, 2008, Belle Johnson was inducted into the Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame at Washington, Missouri. Emma Jo Mudd and Linda Geist attended the celebration. Emma Jo had worked at the Walker Jewelry Store before World War II and remembered the rather eccentric Miss Belle Johnson well. The photographer often called Emma Jo upstairs to her studio to pose while she adjusted the lighting before a client’s arrival. Mudd remembered that her mother often laughed at Miss Belle’s “Mother Hubbard” dresses, but was grateful for the prints she gave the family for Emma Jo’s help. As Juanita Yates, co-author of The Legacy of Belle Johnson, said, “When Miss Belle Johnson died, the town and the world lost a woman of great talent, who earned international recognition for her achievements. Her photography still speaks through her consummate artistry.”12

1 The 1870 Federal census of Mendota, LaSalle County, Illinois shows a population of 4,589. George Johnson and Jonas Eckart each owned property valued at $30,000. Only five others owned land worth $20,000 or more. 2 Yates, Juanita. The Legacy of Belle Johnson, Volume 1. Monroe City, MO: Monroe City Arts Council, 2000. 3 Official Records, Series III, Vol. I, p 79-83. 4 Stone, Nancy. Monroe City, Missouri Sesquicentennial History 1857-2007. Monroe City, MO: The Lake Gazette, 2008. 5 Yates. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid. 8 1930 Federal census, Warren, Marion County, Missouri. 9 Yates. 10 Monroe City NEWS, August 3, 1905. 11 Mark Twain Lake and Cannon Dam Area Development Association promotion material, Warren See papers, located at the Monroe County Historical Society Research Center. 12 Yates.

17 PLATE 1 Belle Johnson My Old Man 15.9 cm x 11.4 cm | 1898 Aristoprint BC 1877.1.10 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

18 PLATE 2 Belle Johnson Blessed Are They That Mourn, for They Shall Be Comforted 14.1 cm x 9.8 cm | c. 1900 Aristoprint BC 1877.1.12 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

19 PLATE 3 Belle Johnson Three Women with Long Hair Mary Martin Cline (center) with her sisters, Sarah Elizabeth Martin and Annie Nettie Martin (order unknown) 20.5 cm x 15.2 cm | c. 1900 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.5a | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

20 PLATE 4 Belle Johnson Three Women with Long Hair at Vanity Mary Martin Cline (left) with her sisters, Sarah Elizabeth Martin and Annie Nettie Martin (order unknown) 20.2 cm x 17.3 cm | c. 1900 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.87 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

21 PLATE 5 Belle Johnson Portrait of a Man with a Cane 24.1 cm x 19.2 cm | c. 1896–1902 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.8 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

22 PLATE 6 Belle Johnson Three Old Women Possibly Miss Elizabeth Perlina Umstattd (left) and Mrs. Price Utterback (center) 15.3 cm x 20.3 cm | c. 1915–1920 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.7a | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

23 PLATE 7 Belle Johnson Tea Party with Dolls 24 cm x 18.8 cm | c. 1896–1905 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.19 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

24 PLATE 8 Belle Johnson Women Tatting and Reading Possibly Miss Elizabeth Perlina Umstattd (left) and Mrs. Price Utterback (center) 17.7 cm x 23.5 cm | c. 1915–1920 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.6 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

25 PLATE 9 Belle Johnson Portrait of a Boy 14 cm x 9.8 cm | 1897 Aristoprint BC 1877.1.8 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

26 PLATE 10 Belle Johnson Ruth Clark in a Pleated Dress with Flowers 19.4 cm x 12.5 cm | c. 1896–1902 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.57 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

27 PLATE 11 Belle Johnson Portrait of a Girl with a Basket 16.4 cm x 10.2 cm | c. 1896–1905 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.67 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

28 PLATE 12 Belle Johnson Mary Lucy Hornback with a Raccoon 13.9 cm x 9.8 cm | c. 1896–1905 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.1 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

29 PLATE 13 Belle Johnson Portrait of Miss Ellen Walker with Flowers 20.5 cm x 12.1 cm | c. 1900 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.42 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

30 PLATE 14 Belle Johnson Sweet Sixteen (Miss Ellen Walker) 25.5 x 15.3 cm | c. 1896 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.38 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

31 PLATE 15 Belle Johnson Portrait of Two Men Playing Cards 22.7 cm x 17.5 cm | c. 1896–1905 Aristoprint BC 1877.5.4 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

32 PLATE 16 Belle Johnson Uncle Jack Whittling 21 cm x 15.9 cm | c. 1896–1902 Aristoprint BC 1877.1.3 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

33 PLATE 17 Belle Johnson Innocence 19.8 cm x 12.5 cm | c. 1900 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.2 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

34 PLATE 18 Belle Johnson Emma Jo Pike Stirring a Beverage 13.9 cm x 9.8 cm | c. 1924 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.13 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

35 PLATE 19 Belle Johnson Portrait of Two Boys Reading 10 cm x 13.9 cm | c. 1896–1905 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.82 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

36 PLATE 20 Belle Johnson Two Unhappy Children 9.8 cm x 14 cm | c. 1896–1905 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.16 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gfit of William L. Bennett

37 PLATE 21 Belle Johnson Portrait of a Young Girl (Miss Ellen Walker) 17 cm x 12.5 cm | c. 1896 Aristoprint BC 1877.43 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

38 PLATE 22 Belle Johnson Ellen Walker with Horse 24.8 cm x 19.5 cm | c. 1905 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.41 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

39 PLATE 23 Belle Johnson Young Girl (Elma Lane) in Bonnet Surrounded by Flowers 13.9 cm x 10 cm | c. 1896–1905 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.69 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

40 PLATE 24 Belle Johnson Young Girl Putting on Her Shoe 17.5 cm x 11.5 cm | c. 1915 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.58 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

41 PLATE 25 Belle Johnson Full-length Portrait of a Woman 13.8 cm x 7.5 cm | c. 1890-1895 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.51 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

42 PLATE 26 Belle Johnson Full-length Portrait of a Woman Holding a Hat 13.8 cm x 9.9 cm | c. 1895 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.53 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

43 PLATE 27 Belle Johnson Portrait of a Girl Holding Flowers in Her Skirt 17.4 cm x 10.3 cm | c. 1915 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.56 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

44 PLATE 28 Belle Johnson Young Girl (Evelyn Jackson) Reaching for a Sunflower 16.6 cm x 10.7 cm | c. 1900 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.63 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

45 PLATE 29 Belle Johnson Boy in Nightgown 14.1 cm x 9.8 cm | c. 1905 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.64 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

46 PLATE 30 Belle Johnson Portrait of a Crying Child 14 cm x 9.8 cm | c. 1905 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.63 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

47 PLATE 31 Belle Johnson Portrait of a Girl in White Dress 17.3 cm x 9.4 cm | c. 1915 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.68 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

48 PLATE 32 Belle Johnson Portrait of Three Girls with Rag Curls 19.8 cm x 17 cm | c. 1915 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.80 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

49 PLATE 33 Belle Johnson Sisters Standing Back to Back 13.9 cm x 9.8 cm | c. 1915 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.74 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

50 PLATE 34 Belle Johnson Two Altar Boys 14 cm x 10 cm | c. 1915 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.83 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

51 PLATE 35 Belle Johnson Portrait of a Man with a Newspaper 13.9 cm x 9.8 cm | c. 1910 Aristoprint BC 1877.6.99 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

52 PLATE 36 Belle Johnson Portrait of a Young Woman with a Handkerchief 24 cm x 18.4 cm | c. 1905 Aristoprint BC 1877.6 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

53 PLATE 37 Belle Johnson Portrait of Two Men Whittling 22.7 cm x 18.1 cm | c. 1896–1902 Aristoprint BC 1877.5.2 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

54 PLATE 38 Belle Johnson Two Girls Blowing Bubbles 17.5 cm x 23.8 cm | c. 1915 Gelatin Silver Print BC 1877.1.7 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

55 PLATE 39 Belle Johnson Wedding Portrait of Harry and Maria Yates 15.9 cm x 11.5 cm | 1943 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of the Children of Harry and Maria Yates

56 PLATE 40 Belle Johnson Joe and Emma Jo Mudd Wedding Portrait 14.2 cm x 8.7 cm | 1944 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Emma Jo (Pike) Mudd

57 PLATE 41 Belle Johnson Girl with Drum c. 1920 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Kenneth and Judith Barnes

58 PLATE 42 Belle Johnson Girl with Violin c. 1920 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Kenneth and Judith Barnes

59 PLATE 43 Belle Johnson Emma Jo Pike 10.2 cm x 7.6 cm | 1942 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Emma Jo (Pike) Mudd

60 PLATE 44 Belle Johnson Joe Mudd in Navy Uniform 24.8 cm x 19.5 cm | 1944 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Emma Jo (Pike) Mudd

61 PLATE 45 Belle Johnson Portrait of Robert L. Hawkins in a World War I Uniform 15.3 cm x 10.3 cm | 1918 Aristoprint Collection of Col. Robert Lewis Hawkins, Jr., U.S.A. Ret.

62 PLATE 46 Belle Johnson Rosemary Horn 14 cm x 9.5 cm | 1944 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Lawrence Bode

63 PLATE 47 Belle Johnson Group Portrait 20.32 cm x 25.4 cm | c. 1900 Glass Plate Negative (inverted) Collection of Fred McClintic

64 PLATE 48 Belle Johnson W.T. Hays Family Portrait 11.4 cm x 17.7 cm | c. 1944–45 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of the Family of Tom and Lucille Hays

65 PLATE 49 Belle Johnson Girls Basketball Team 12.3 cm x 17.2 cm | 1940 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Emma Jo (Pike) Mudd

66 PLATE 50 Belle Johnson Boys Basketball Team 11.75 cm x 16 cm | 1940 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Emma Jo (Pike) Mudd

67 PLATE 51 Belle Johnson Portrait of Mark C. Hawkins 14.2 cm x 10 cm | c. 1925 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Col. Robert L. Hawkins, Jr., U.S.A. Ret.

68 PLATE 52 Belle Johnson Robert L. Hawkins, Sr. and Mark C. Hawkins 15.9 cm x 10.8 cm | 1927 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Col. Robert L. Hawkins, Jr., U.S.A. Ret.

69 PLATE 53 Belle Johnson Marie Williams 11.3 cm x 7.6 cm | 1940 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of the Family of Tom and Lucille Hays

70 PLATE 54 Belle Johnson Jane and Joan Stone 11 cm x 7.9 cm | 1942 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Joan Stone

71 PLATE 55 Belle Johnson (attributed to) Mary Bell Trosper in Bathing Suit 25.08 cm x 20.08 cm | c. 1930 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Don Perrine

72 PLATE 56 Belle Johnson Young Woman Seated in Profile 11 cm x 7.9 cm | c. 1920 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Kenneth and Judith Barnes

73 PLATE 57 Belle Johnson Woman (possibly Mary Bell Trosper) with a Piglet 24.6 cm x 19.4 cm | c. 1940 Gelatin Silver Print Collection of Don Perrine

74 PLATE 58 Belle Johnson Woman Feeding Farm Animals 20.2 cm x 24.3 cm | c. 1896–1905 Gelatin Silver Print BC 1877.8.1 | Massillon Museum Collection | Gift of William L. Bennett

75 Monroe City History and Belle Johnson Biography

1800 1877 Thomas Wedgwood makes “sun pictures” by Eadweard Muybridge demonstrates placing opaque objects on leather treated with time-sequenced photography silver nitrate 1880 1822 George Eastman sets up Eastman Dry Plate Nicéphore Niépce takes the first fixed, permanent Company in Rochester, New York photograph, using the “heliographic process” 1880 1834 The first half-tone photograph appears in the Henry Fox Talbot creates calotypes—permanent New York Graphic negative images—and creates positive images by contact printing onto another sheet of paper 1882–1884 Belle Johnson attends St. Mary’s College at Notre 1839 Dame (Indiana), graduating in 1884 Jacques Louis Mande Daguerre patents the daguerreotype—images on silver-plated copper 1884 George Eastman invents flexible, paper-based 1851 photographic film Frederick Scott Archer improves photographic resolution by spreading a mixture of collodion 1885 and chemicals on sheets of glass Belle Johnson moves to Monroe City to live with her sister, Mary Walker 1854 Adolphe Disderi develops carte-de-visite 1885 photography in Paris, leading to the worldwide Monroe City Poultry Association forms to protect upsurge of portrait studios the town’s most important industry 1855-57 1887 Direct positive images on glass (ambrotypes) and The Rev. Hannibal Goodwin conceives the idea of metal (tintypes or ferrotypes) gain U.S. popularity using transparent celluloid for photographic film 1856 1888 The town on Monroe is founded; within a year it Kodak markets the amateur box camera becomes known as Monroe Station 1889 1861 The Aristo Company (Jamestown, NY) first Oliver Wendell Holmes invents the stereoptican manufactures collodion-chloride Aristo papers viewer 1890 1861-65 Belle Johnson assists in the portrait studio of Mr. Mathew Brady and employees expose 7,000 Rippey and soon runs the business on her own negatives documenting the American Civil War 1891 1861 Thomas Edison patents motion pictures Monroe Station, now vital for transportation of 1894 Federal troops and supplies, is the site of a Civil Johnson joins as a charter member of the War skirmish Photographic Association of Missouri 1864 1894 Born on August 4, Belle Johnson is raised in Johnson submits first photograph for competition; Mendota, Illinois places third of thirty-five entries 1865 1899 Photographs and photographic negatives gain C.S. Robertshaw, a local cigar maker, hires copyright protection Johnson to operate his photography studio after 1869 a fire wracks the site of her own Monroe Station is officially renamed Monroe City 1900 when it incorporates, but it is sometimes referred Kodak first promotes the Brownie camera to as “Queen of the Prairie” 1901 1871 Newspaper ads appear for “Belle Johnson, Richard Leach Maddox devises the “dry plate” Photographs;” she is sole owner from this time on negative process 1901 Johnson wins a prize in the Chicago Herald’s contest for best amateur photograph of flowers for table decoration 76 within the Framework of the History of Photography

1902 1934 Johnson locates her studio above her brother-in- The film cartridge makes 35mm film easy to use law R. Manning Walker’s jewelry store on Winter Street 1935 The Farm Security Administration hires Walker 1902 Evans and Dorothea Lange to photograph rural Alfred Stieglitz organizes the “Photo Secessionist” hardships during the Great Depression show in New York City 1936 1903 The 35mm single-lens reflex (SLR) camera makes Johnson wins first prize in the Continuous Camera its commercial debut Contest of the Buffalo [New York] Express 1942–1945 1905 Margaret Bourke-White, Robert Capa, and others Johnson’s image of girls blowing bubbles earns a cover the war for Life magazine prize at the International Contest at Paris, France 1945 1906 Belle Johnson dies on July 19 in her home/studio Johnson is the only woman invited to participate in Monroe City, Missouri in an exhibition organized by the Photographic Association of America 1948 Edwin H. Land introduces Polaroid instant images 1906 J.P. Morgan finances Edward Curtis’s photographic 1951 documentation of the North American Indian Diecasting spurs a shift in Monroe City’s economic base 1907 Johnson is named an honorary member of the 1954 Photographic Association of America Eastman Kodak introduces high-speed Tri-X film 1907 1955 Johnson earns salon honors at a national Edward Steichen’s pivotal Family of Man exhibition convention in Dayton, Ohio at New York’s Museum of Modern Art includes four images by native Massillonian Nell Dorr 1907 Johnson accumulates thirteen medals in 1957 international photography competitions The first image is scanned into a digital computer 1907 1970s Alfred Stieglitz takes his signature photograph, Johnson’s image of “Three Women with Long The Steerage Hair” appears in a Beatles documentary 1909 1978 Lewis Hine photographically documents children Konica advertises its first “point-and-shoot” working mills autofocus camera 1919 1984 In Abel’s Photographic Weekly, Johnson disputes Canon demonstrates the first digital electronic another reader’s charge of discrimination against still camera women in the photography profession 1990 1921 Adobe releases Photoshop Man Ray creates photograms (“rayographs”) 2000 by placing objects on photographic paper and The Monroe City Arts Council prints a exposing the shadow collection of Belle Johnson’s photographs 1927 2004 General Electric invents the modern flash bulb Kodak ceases production of film cameras 1932 2006 Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Willard Van Monroe City suffers severe tornado damage Dyke, Edward Weston, and others found Group f/64 dedicated to “straight photographic thought 2008 and production” On October 16, the Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame inducts Belle Johnson 1932 Henri Cartier-Bresson buys a Leica and launches 2011 a six-decade career of photo reportage The Faces of Rural America exhibition opens at the Massillon Museum

77 Acknowledgments

The Faces of Rural America project is a culmination of countless hours and numerous individuals who gave of their time and talents to create something meaningful and lasting. I must first acknowledge that none of this would have been possible without funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Having received a “Museums for America” grant from the IMLS in 2008, the Massillon Museum was able to undertake this two-year project. There are several individuals and partner institutions that helped facilitate our onsite visit to Monroe City in February 2010. First and foremost, I would like to thank Linda Geist, owner and publisher of The Lake Gazette. Geist’s love of Belle Johnson’s photographs and her dedication to preserving the history of Monroe City fueled our enthusiasm for this project. She dedicated a great deal of time and energy to promoting this endeavor, and to scanning and compiling information about Johnson’s photographs during the past several years. Especially helpful with research were Nancy Stone and Rhonda Johnson of the Monroe County Historical Society and Kathleen Wilhelm of the Shelby County Historical Society and Museum. Jackie Pangborn of Monroe City Hall helped secure our use of the historic St. Jude’s Church, where we conducted our oral histories, and Carol Hood of the Monroe City Library allowed us use of her facility for scanning and research. Diana Hendrix of the Senior Nutrition Center provided food for the town hall meeting, and to all the staff at City Hall, I extend my gratitude for use of the council room for that meeting and for their overall support of this important collaborative effort. In addition, I must thank the staff at the UMB Bank, who were generous with their time in allowing us access to explore what we thought may have been Belle Johnson’s studio. And, to all the shop owners in town who shared their time and smiles with us during our visit, I offer my thanks as well. The Massillon Museum is truly indebted to those who dedicated time to providing oral histories about Belle Johnson and growing up in Monroe City. I would like to extend thanks to Robert Baker, Mary Bell (Trosper) Gentry, Robert Hawkins, Jr. and Elizabeth Hawkins, Polly Morthland, Emma Jo (Pike) Mudd, Mark Shuck, Cele Spalding, Joanne and Jim Spalding, Joan Stone, Margaret Arnold (Henderson) Swearengen, and Juanita Yates. By sharing their memories with us, these individuals provided insight that helped shape the exhibition, catalog, and documentary film. We also thank Dr. Leslie Heaphy of Kent State University Stark for her consultation with Museum staff on conducting oral histories in advance of our visit. Museum registrar Cristina Savu and intern Hilary Brentin spent a great deal of time transcribing the oral histories, which assisted our research tremendously. There are numerous people with whom Museum staff had been in touch for years preceding our visit to Monroe City, and others we had the pleasure of meeting during this project. They approached us with an interest in the photographs of Belle Johnson. Many of them possessed Johnson photographs of their own and were kind enough to share these images and allow us to scan them for the purpose of this project. All of them dedicated time to looking through our images with the intention of helping to identify the subjects. With their help, we successfully identified some of the portraits. The individuals we wish to thank are: Marie Allen, Robert K. Baker, Kenneth and Judith Barnes, Lawrence Bode, Jackie Bono, James W. Brown, Alan Carpenter, Gina Carroll, Lucille Paris Cheek, Mary Bell Gentry, Julie Gwinner, Robert Lewis Hawkins, Betty Hays, Gary Hays, Jack Jones, Michelle Kendrick, Dorothy Kern, Mary Beth Kirtlink, Donald LaRue, Lester J. Miles, Fred McClintic, Tom Miskell, Reva Morgan, Polly Morthland, John Daniel Mudd, R. Ellen Mudd, Emma Jo Mudd, Jane E. Mudd, Keith Mudd, Betty Pangborn, the Paris Family, Don Perrine, Ace and Marguerite Pierceall, Margaret Lee Raetz, Mark Shuck, Cele Spalding, Jim and JoAnne Spalding, Joan Stone, Nancy Stone, Margaret Swearengen, and Joseph P. Williams. To Nancy Stone, for contributing a beautiful essay detailing the history of Belle Johnson and Monroe City for this catalog, I am sincerely grateful.

78 For translating our vision for the project to the web, I wish to thank Doug Scheetz and the staff of Scheetz Design, and for transforming our project so beautifully to catalog form, Bates Printing for their continued excellence in executing quality print work. I wish to also thank Christian Harwell at Cyrus Framing for matting all of the exhibit prints. And, for the creative vision she brings to Museum catalogs time and again, I am indebted to Margy Vogt for her exquisite design of the catalog. This project would be all but a dream were it not for the donation of the Belle Johnson photographs in 1946 by William Loren Bennett. To former executive director of the Massillon Museum, Christine Fowler Shearer, I extend my gratitude for her assistance in securing the IMLS grant to fund this project, as well as for her interest in and dedication to this effort. Thanks to Joan Sauverino from PhilaPlace for her insight into neighborhood history projects. For volunteering her time to assist with genealogy research and photograph organization, I extend thanks to Deb Altimus. I am especially grateful for the expertise of Mark Osterman, Photographic Process Historian at George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film; he advised on how to properly identify Miss Belle’s Aristoprints. Brian Donovan volunteered his time and energy to traveling with us to Monroe City, by way of Chicago, documenting our efforts on film to convey what transpired behind the scenes. Sara Przybylski at the State Historical Society of Missouri offered research assistance, and artists Joseph Close and Brittany Steigert; writer and poet Chiquita Mullins Lee; and Reverand Barry Stirbens explored new ways to interpret the photographs of Belle Johnson. There were many volunteers who worked diligently to assist with the digitization and data entry processes. Alyssa Arciello, Hilary Brentin, Lois McHugh, Jessica Shoemaker, and Jordan White worked with Savu to enter the Belle Johnson photographs into our collections database. Interns Adam Hicks and Hilary Brentin assisted with the exhibition preparation, and Brentin also loaned her meticulous editing skills to the catalog. Last but certainly not least, I wish to recognize the efforts of Massillon Museum staff who comprised the project team. Cristina Savu led the database entry carried out by volunteers and interns. Archivist Mandy Altimus Pond, public relations coordinator Margy Vogt, and former executive director Christine Shearer accompanied me to Monroe City to conduct research and interviews and scan photographs. Jill Malusky created numerous educational offerings to help enliven this exhibit. Through her interpretation, the community has been able to better understand and appreciate the vision of Belle Johnson. And Mandy Altimus Pond brought her passion and skills as a filmmaker and editor to the project, beautifully encapsulating the spirit of the Monroe City and Belle Johnson legacies in the accompanying documentary seen in the exhibition. I am sincerely indebted to all the Massillon Museum staff for their continued support and assistance: Christopher Craft, Deb Lux, Scot Phillips, William Slater, Duncan Tanner, Sandi Thouvenin and Emily Vigil. I also wish to thank Andy Rock and Keith Rock for installing the exhibition. This was a team effort in the best sense, all individuals working together from a desire to see the legacy of Belle Johnson, her photographs, and the community in which she lived and worked, endure. I thank each and every one of them for their dedication to Faces of Rural America.

Alexandra Nicholis Executive Director

79 Authors

Alexandra Nicholis Alexandra Nicholis is the executive director for the Massillon Museum. She holds a BA in art history from Kent State University and an MA degree in art history through the joint program at the Cleveland Museum of Art and Case Western Reserve University. She has been with the Massillon Museum since 2001, serving as registrar from 2002 to 2004 and curator from 2004 to 2011. Nicholis served as adjunct faculty for Walsh University from 2006 to 2011 and as president of Soroptimist International of Canton-Stark County from 2006 to 2011. She has authored essays for several Massillon Museum publications, including Between Two Worlds: The Photography of Nell Dorr (2010); Darkrooms in a Digital Age (2007); and William T. Mathews: Painter of Presidents (2005). Nicholis resides in Akron, Ohio.

Nancy E. Stone Nancy E. Stone is currently president of the Monroe County Historical Society and a resident of Paris, Missouri. She attended the University of Missouri School of Journalism after graduation from Centennial High School in Pueblo, Colorado, in 1964, and received a BS in business administration from Columbia College in 2005. Her interest in Monroe County, Missouri, history stems from research into her late husband Ed Stone’s family history that includes many pioneers who were residents of the county when it was formed in 1831. She is the author and editor of Monroe County, Missouri…Then and Now 1831–2006, a history book published by the Monroe County Historical Society to celebrate the county’s 175th Anniversary, and Monroe City, Missouri, a Sesquicentennial History 1857–2007, published by The Lake Gazette. She has written a weekly history column for that newspaper since January 2006. Prior to her first “retirement” in 1985, she worked as a display advertising representative for the Columbia Daily Tribune in Columbia, Missouri, was director of public relations for Western Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company, and benefits specialist at the Denver Dry Goods department store chain in Denver, Colorado. In 1985, she and her husband, with their children —Mark, Mary, and Jessica—returned to Missouri, where they raised draft horses and farmed for several years. Nancy obtained a commercial driver’s license and owned and operated Stone’s Trucking with her husband until they retired a second time in 1999 and moved to Ed’s hometown, Paris, Missouri. A member of the James Monroe Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, she received a Certificate of BACK COVER Excellence in Community Service from the National Society Post office (The L.C. Saunders Building), of DAR in 2009. In 2010 she received recognition from the 100 block North Main, c. 1907 Missouri House of Representatives for her contributions to Courtesy of The Lake Gazette preserving the history of Monroe County and Monroe City.