Quick Summary
The Minnesota Digital Library recently published a new online exhibit featuring the photography of Mathias O. Bue, who was the leading photographer in Lanesboro from 1912 to 1946.
In the early twentieth century, photographers and photography studios were common in towns across Minnesota. These photographers were artists, experimenters, business people, and community boosters. The best of them also created beautiful and enduring works of art. For over 30 years, Lanesboroā€™s trusted photographer was Mathias O. Bue. Over the course of his long career, Bue practiced his art, promoted his beloved town, and created a valuable record of the people, places, and events that were unique to his time and place.
Many of Bueā€™s photographs and negatives still exist in area archives and museums. The Minnesota Digital Library digitized a set of 128 black-and-white negatives from the Bue collection held at the Fillmore County Historical Society. This collection forms the basis for MDLā€™s latest online exhibit, which provides a glimpse of what life was like in small-town Minnesota around 100 years ago.
The Mathias O. Bue exhibit joins another MDL exhibit on a significant Minnesota photographer, George A. Newton, who lived and worked in Minnesotaā€™s Arrowhead region. Several other photography exhibits are under development, so stay tuned for more!
Image credit: Mathias Bue leaves in his automobile and waves goodbye to niece Joann Bue, Lanesboro, 1922: https://collection.mndigital.org/catalog/fch:163
