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The Shows (Feature 1221.240)
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Picturing Utopia
Broadcast 01/14/05 What if, by means of forbidden photographs, you could go back in time and witness life in a turn of the century religious utopia? In her book, "Picturing Utopia, Bertha Shambaugh and the Amana Photographers," author Abigail Foerstner provides that opportunity and goes a step further by exposing the photographers who took them. In the mid 1800's, German immigrants established a self-sufficient, communal and religious society in the villages in eastern Iowa we know as the Amana Colonies. Photography was forbidden because it was considered to be a worldly vanity in a society that wanted to be separate from the influences of the outside world in order to focus on a spiritual life. A group of prominent members of Amana society felt that documenting their lifestyle in a rapidly changing world was more important than breaking the rule against taking pictures. The photographers took great care in capturing all types of photos from still lifes to local disasters. They left us a time capsule of a gentler way of life.
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Abigail Foerstner Phone: (847)256-6425 amf240@aol.com State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City Phone: (319)335-3916 Web Site Museum of Amana History P.O. Box 81, Amana, IA 52203 Phone: (319)622-3567 amherit@juno.com Web Site University of Iowa Press 100 Kuhl House, Iowa City, IA 52242 Phone: orders (800)621-2736 Web Site |
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Museum of Amana History University of Iowa Press State Historical Society of Iowa |