Frances benjamin Johnston: West VirgInia Icon

Exhibition on Display Now! Can't come see it in person? Visit the online exhibit.

Check out the take-home activity & photo gallery, and you too can "Go Behind the Lens"!

November 2020 - Blennerhassett Historical State Park Museum, 137 Juliana St, Parkersburg, Wood County, WV
Phone - (304) 420-4800

March 2021 - Harrison County WV Historical Society, 445 W Main St #150, Clarksburg, Harrison County, WV 
Phone - (304) 709-4902

April 2021 - Holler: Contemporary Appalachian Art Gallery, 900 Mercer Street
Princeton, WV  24740
Phone - (304) 431-4975  

About the Exhibit: Johnston's photographic surveys of the American South, financed by the Carnegie Corporation during the Great Depression, captured historic structures both grandiose and humble and showed the power of the photograph to contribute to historic record.  Visitors to the exhibit will have exclusive access to Johnston's stunning photographs not widely available to the public outside the Library of Congress.  They will be encouraged to "step behind the lens" in their own communities and look for historic structures to preserve through photography.

This exhibit is made possible through a West Virginia Humanities Council mini-grant.

Display the Exhibit at Your Venue for Free: PAWV is actively seeking sites to display the exhibit for a one-month period. PAWV will travel to your site to install and uninstall the exhibit at no charge to you. Exhibit requires at least a 6 ft' x 6 ft' display area, and it can be adapted to easels, tabletop displays, or window display. If you are interested in displaying the exhibit, please contact Ksenia Bradner, Preserve WV AmeriCorps member developing the exhibit, at kseniabradner@gmail.com.