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Another
Witness of the Light:
The Museum of Church
History and Art Showcases
Two Twentieth Century Photographers
by Scot Facer Proctor
George
Edward Anderson and Scot Facer Proctor
Editor's
Note: In January of 2000 the Museum of Church History and Art contacted
Meridian's Publisher, Scot Facer Proctor, to see about creating
an exhibit that would display photographs of the Church historical
sites from the first and last decades of the twentieth century.
Photographs from the early 1900's were drawn from the works of George
Edward Anderson, and photographs from the last decade were drawn
from the works of Scot Facer Proctor. The exhibit of the work of
the two photographers will run from September 22, 2000 to approximately
the end of October 2001.
Just as Meridian worked with the Museum of Church History and Art
in running four galleries online of the 5th International
Art Competition with the theme of the Book of Mormon, we will be
running a series of five articles that will allow you to see the
photographs on display at the Museum. Since this year's Church curriculum
is the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History, we felt this would
be especially appropriate.
Many
thanks go to Ron Read for the meticulous work of scanning the photographs
from the originals. Thanks also to Robert Davis, who coordinated
the whole effort of the exhibit, and to Glen Leonard, Curator of
the Museum of Church History and Art. In the following article Scot
Facer Proctor documents some of the stories behind the creating
of the photographs he shot in the 1990's and the feelings that motivate
the work he does.
My father was
blessed to take two sabbatical leaves from the University of Missouri
to work at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. On
his free days, our family took many treks through the rural, western
region of Turkey following the footsteps of the Apostle Paul. I
remember one late afternoon stopping the car and watching as the
light slanted across this breathtaking scene of one of the roads
Paul surely had come along. I stood there by my Dad, and out of
my heart sprang these words, "You know, some day I'm going to do
a beautiful photographic book on Joseph Smith, and I am going to
call it something like, "In the Footsteps of the Prophet Joseph
Smith." I was seventeen. That dream would come true in August of
1991 when Witness of the Light, A Photographic Journey in the
Footsteps of the American Prophet Joseph Smith was published.
I have literally
taken thousands of photographs of the Church history sites. Whereas
many may go to Nauvoo for a weekend and shoot two or three rolls
of film, I will return with fourteen hundred photographs. I want
to try to see things as Joseph saw them. Sometimes I even crank
the tripod to exactly his eye level so that the image recorded will
be as historically accurate as possible. I don't just research history;
I try to feel it and hear it and taste it. I have slept out in every
season on the ground under the open heavens at nearly every site.
I slept through an all-night Pennsylvania downpour at Harmony, never
getting wet, safe under a friendly pine tree. I have slept on the
Smith Farm in Manchester many times, and at the base of the Hill
Cumorah. I have slept on the original temple acres in Independence,
Missouri. I have sung a solo (a number of times) of all seven verses
of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" in the Carthage Jail. I have
read nearly all the revelations of the Doctrine and Covenants aloud
in the various places where they were received. I have waded in
the waters of the sacred Susquehanna River.
I have gone
out of my way to make my photographs as historically accurate as
possible. Hence I will go to great lengths to avoid power lines,
jet streams, automobiles, and people. My desire has been to shoot
timeless photographs so that whether one hundred years back or one
hundred years forward, the historical sites should look about the
same, save the size of the trees. Trying to photograph the Kirtland
Temple, for example, is quite a chore these days as there are at
least fifteen power lines that string in parallel right in front
or to the side of it. George Edward Anderson generally did not face
these challenges. As a 21st century viewer of his now
historical photographs, we welcome any and all things that happen
to be in his pictures. The ancillary details give us a sense of
his times.
I will go to
great lengths to take the shot that I am looking for. I feel that
in order to take great pictures you have to take great care to listen
to your own feelings and to the whisperings of the Spirit, trusting
the inclinations that flow from the depth of your soul.
I was out one
morning on Dairy Hill in Vermont, about two hundred and fifty yards
from the birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith. My wife, Maurine,
and baby, Mariah, were back at camp, and I was on my way to capture
some New England fog and fields. I had set up the big Pentax 6x7
camera on the tripod and was crossing a rail fence to capture the
beautiful scenery in a valley below. On an instant the Spirit whispered
to me to run back to the road and set up the camera-now! Familiar
with the voice, I obeyed immediately, without hesitation, and got
ready for whatever was to come. I had no sooner set up the camera
than an orphan patch of thick fog blew gently across the road in
front of me, blocking the sun and creating a wonderful effect. I
bracketed the shot, having only enough time to take one perfect
exposure. Within thirty seconds the fog had vanished into the atmosphere
and the experience was over. It was exhilarating! The Spirit whispered
again, "You will use that one." That photograph became the cover
of Witness of the Light.
The
Wistful Nature of Photography
Behind every photograph is an adventure, both historical and recent.
There is something very compelling to me about "composing" a picture,
much as Kurt Bestor might compose a line of music. I love photography.
I am amazed by it. I continue to marvel like a child when I see
images appear on strips of celluloid from the field, or flash before
my eyes on a small screen a split second after the tiny beep of
my digital camera. I find great joy in capturing on film the fleeting
moments of time. I love looking through the lens and seeing a young
couple readying themselves for marriage, taking care with the formality
of an engagement picture. I love taking rolls and rolls of film
of eternal families. There is something very humbling to me about
actually pressing the shutter on any of my cameras. I feel like
the releasing of that mechanism is almost like taking upon my self
a sacred stewardship. I am recording fractions of a second in eternity.
Over the years
I have recorded too many things that have either suddenly or slowly
changed and my photograph remains the last witness of a beloved
memory. I have recorded families who within weeks of my photographing
them have lost a child to death who was very much alive when I looked
through the viewfinder. My heart has burst with emotion many times
as I have reviewed sacred pictures that would be used to be placed
on top of a casket at a viewing.
Maurine and
I recorded a beautiful morning on April 6, 1992 from shepherds'
fields, looking out over to the little town of Bethlehem. That photograph
later was placed in the official version of the scriptures the Church
has recently published. But the hill we photographed in almost pristine
form then, has now been gouged with an enormous road that has cut
right through the middle of the ancient scene. I recorded the site
of the home where little seven year old Joseph Smith had his leg
operation in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Now the parking lot of a strip
mall covers the native grasses and trees that I shot. I took two
quick archival slides of Edward Hunter's home in Nauvoo back in
1978. Two revelations of the Doctrine and Covenants (Sections 127
and 128) were given in the attic there. The home would later be
demolished.
I grew up in
Missouri and perhaps there was something that lingered in the land
for I felt an extreme interest in knowing about those Church History
sites not so far from my home town. I wanted to get to know the
people that lived in those places in the last century. Although
I watched with youthful enthusiasm some of those early football
stars of the sixties like Bart Starr, and others idolized them or
covered their walls with sports posters, my heroes really became
the key players of the Restoration-Joseph and Hyrum, Lucy Mack Smith,
Parley P. Pratt, Heber and Vilate Kimball, Eliza R. Snow. I came
to know these people like they were my own family.
The
Smith Family in New England
The Smiths moved eight different times in the first nineteen years
of marriage in New England, however, none of those moves is more
than forty miles apart. All are around or near the upper Connecticut
River or one of its tributaries or nearby settlements. All the towns
have retained some degree of charm and early-America feel if you
look for it. The towns in Vermont of Tunbridge, Randolph, Royalton,
Sharon, and Norwich, and the town of Lebanon, New Hampshire all
become familiar to the researcher of the Smith's New England years.
The Smiths
had ten of their eleven children while in New England and buried
their firstborn son (unnamed) and Ephraim in forgotten cemeteries
or plots. When they finally moved to western New York, likely in
November or December of 1816, Lucy, now forty years of age, brought
eight children in or by her wagon: Alvin, eighteen; Hyrum, sixteen;
Sophronia, thirteen; Joseph, ten; Samuel, eight; William, five;
Catharine, four; and Don Carlos, eight or nine months old.
I have photographed
the remaining home of the Smith's in New England, located on an
obscure farm not far outside the village limits of Norwich, Vermont.
It was here on this rented property that the series of crop failures
and the extraordinary ice storms of 1816 (the year without a summer
in New England) drove the Smiths to move to western New York. That
seemingly "natural process" of being "forced" to move was clearly
providential. To me this is sacred ground. The home has been restored
in a meticulous fashion and is likely better than the original.
I looked at George Edward's picture of that farm and home, compared
them with mine, and felt more of a bond with him through that picture
than any other one of his photographs. Neither his nor my photos
of the Norwich farm or house were chosen for the Museum exhibit.
George
Edward Anderson and Myself
George Edward Anderson carried much heavier cameras than I have
ever carried. He clearly had a passion for the work of recording
sacred places. The Brethren called him on a mission to England and
he took two years to get there from the Great Salt Lake. What was
he doing all that time? Taking photographs of Church history sites.
I remember long years ago reading from one of George Edward's field
notes a haunting line which read something like this: "When I see
these sacred sites I think to myself, 'if I do not record them in
photograph, who will, for perhaps these places will never look this
way again.'" That thought stayed with me and truly was one of the
motivations for my compelling desire to record the Church historical
sites on film in my day.
My first official
Church history "shoot" was thirty-one years ago, accompanying my
brother Paul to shoot some fresh postcard photographs for Nauvoo.
I was an unofficial apprentice to my brother. He was the master
photographer; I was only learning. I noted as he chose each angle
so carefully and quickly. I watched as he worked with the light
and the weather. I admired everything he did and loved seeing his
photographs published in the New Era or the Ensign. Between my brother's
skills and my Dad's constant photographing the earth as a geologist
viewed it, something welled up inside of me. I wanted to become
a photographer-but my passion was one thing-the Prophet Joseph Smith.
I have trekked
through the most dismal weather to capture a photograph in a place
where the Prophet once walked. I have literally walked across the
Mississippi River from Nauvoo to the Iowa side (all 6,545 feet of
it) only to have the ice begin to crack just twenty feet from the
shore and have to quickly scamper away from the terrifying sound.
I have waited for hours for the sun to come up and bring those first,
almost un-recordable colors, to the valley at Adam-ondi-Ahman. All
of this I have done for one purpose: to use my gifts to testify
of the Restoration and the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ
and to lift others through this medium of photography and help them
feel the feelings that are in these sacred places as if they were
there physically.
The
Exhibit
The photographs that follow will be a mixture of mine and George
Edward's Anderson's. I will walk you through the photographs with
captions. We will divide the photos into five galleries: 1) New
England; 2) New York and Pennsylvania; 3) Ohio; 4) Missouri; and
5) Nauvoo. Most of you will never see the display in Salt Lake City
(I have not seen it yet), but this way we can bring it right into
your home. Be sure and click on the photos to make them as large
as possible. Feel free to use them and change them often as your
wallpaper on your screens (of course they are all copyrighted, but
let those scenes permeate your souls). Be patient with the downloading
processes. It is worth the wait. As you see these pictures, may
you feel a portion of my testimony and the dedication of Brother
George Edward Anderson.
Click
for Enlargement
View of the
village of Tunbridge, Orange County, Vermont where Joseph Smith,
Sr. and Lucy Mack met and married. Do you see the Church there in
the center? Just barely to the right is a white building with two
windows and a pyramid-shaped roof. That is the Town Clerk's office.
If you walk down the stairs, go around to the left and ask for Book
Number One of the Tunbridge Town Records, you can find the original
marriage entry of Joseph Smith and Lucy Mack dated January 24, 1796.
I love looking at that record. You can also find the birth entries
for Alvin, Hyrum, Sophronia and Samuel Harrison Smith. This is pure,
raw history. By Scot Facer Proctor, 1990.
Click
for Enlargement
The last leaves
of fall along the road leading up Dairy Hill to the birthplace of
the Prophet Joseph Smith in the township of Sharon, Windsor County,
Vermont. These counties are divided into smaller political entities
called townships. The township line of Sharon and Royalton, Vermont
ran right through the middle of the Smith cabin. We assume that
Joseph was born on the Sharon side of the cabin. By Scot Facer Proctor,
1990.
Click
for Enlargement
View from high
atop what is now called Patriarch Hill looking out towards the granite
monument marking the site of the birthplace of the Prophet Joseph
Smith in Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont. When George Edward took
this photograph, the granite obelisk had only been in place less
than two years. The cleared land in the foreground and middle of
the photograph marks the approximate boundaries of the land that
was farmed by the Smiths and rented from Lucy's father, Solomon
Mack. By George Edward Anderson, 1907.
Click
for Enlargement
Cutting ice
blocks from a pond on the old Joseph Smith Sr. farm up the Tunbridge
Gore in Orange County, Vermont. George Edward loved to place people
in nearly all of his photographs, usually either reading or doing
some activity. By George Edward Anderson, 1907.
Click
for Enlargement
Rare view of
the birthplace of Joseph Smith from down below in the hollow where
the old turnpike ran from Boston to Montreal. The hillsides here
are now covered with dense forest and such a view is impossible
to capture on film. The topsoil here is only 8-12 inches deep then
one hits solid bedrock. The granite monument can be seen just left
of center at the top of the rise. Likely Solomon Mack's home site
can be seen in the depression and marking in immediate foreground
though George Edward does not note it. By George Edward Anderson,
1907.
Click
for Enlargement
Old memorial
cottage erected at the site of the birthplace of Joseph. For many
years some people thought this was the birthplace home-not so. This
home was built to center around the hearthstone of the original
Smith home and acted as a missionary residence and visitor's center.
The cottage was razed in 1963 and replaced by a new residence and
a separate visitor's center. By George Edward Anderson, 1907.
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Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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