“I often consider photographs as documents that you can read,” said Reilly, an associate professor and curator of UofL’s photographic archives. “What we can learn from old photographs, or photographs in general, is immense. And the preservation of that material is important for maintaining that information and being able to learn the history of our university, city and neighbors.”

A city comes into focus

The university’s archives include a trove of unique collections – each filled with countless artifacts. Reilly suspects that if you tallied the individual negatives, slides and prints from the photographic archives, UofL likely houses roughly 7-8 million images. But one collection in particular stands out – the .

“The Caufield & Shook collection is special because it’s all Louisville. It contains a lot of Louisville’s history and really documents the city’s growth,” Reilly said. “It’s a visual history, so a lot of people can truly connect to it and find photographs of their family, their businesses, houses, neighborhoods and streets. It’s one of our most-accessed collections.”

With a motto of “We photograph ANYTHING, day or night,” James Caufield and Frank W. Shook’s studio operated in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1903-1978. The bulk of the photographs are from the era after the Great Flood of 1937 that destroyed much of the studio’s earlier prints, although UofL does have some pre-flood material from work stored on the second story of Caufield & Shook’s Fourth Street studio.

A community collection

UofL’s photographic archives were founded in 1962, “which is pretty early for a university photo collection,” Reilly said. The university quickly gained attention as a place where photographs could be preserved and made available for research. This reputation made UofL an ideal guardian for Caufield & Shook, which began sending pieces from its studio archives to the university around 1968. UofL continued receiving batches until the studio shuttered in 1978.

Today, the library has digitized over 8,000 of those images, which are viewable through the . But they aren’t exclusively available to the university community – they’re for everybody.

“Anybody can come in and talk to one of our archivists or librarians who are sitting at our reference desk and say, ‘This is what I’m looking for, can you help me?’ We’re here for the community,” Reilly said.

Throughout the year, Reilly collaborates with professors and local educators to teach one-off sessions about specific topics they’re teaching in the classroom. She particularly finds excitement in introducing young Jefferson County Public School students to UofL’s collections, especially 3D images from the 19th century viewed through a stereo viewer.

Preserve, organize, describe

As archivists, Reilly and her colleagues receive and process collections, craft descriptions to make them discoverable, and then make them available to the public. Preservation as an act is a labor-intensive process and relies on a myriad of resources from climate-controlled storage spaces to digital data servers.

But the effort and mission are worth it to Reilly because Archives & Special Collections is the memory of the university.

“It’s curious to see how people lived back then and compare our own current-day experience and existence,” Reilly said. “When you look at photographs of people in Louisville from 100 years ago, it may be totally different, and you try to picture yourself in that environment and in that day inside the photograph. Delve in and really read a photograph. You can learn so much. It’s a very interesting thing to experience and that’s what I love about my job.”

Below, Reilly shares her 10 favorite examples of common types of photographs found in the Caufield & Shook collection.

Seven young African American men standing at a fence, each holding tools, 1920.

“I love this photograph. First, the faces and postures of the young men and the pride conveyed in ‘a job well done.’ From this image I get a glimpse into the Prentice School, its students and the type of teaching that happened there. I love the fashion and the way the students are sharply dressed. I appreciate this small view of Louisville’s downtown (South Sixth Street between Chestnut Street and Muhammad Ali Boulevard) that no longer looks anything like this, with its stately homes in the background. Lastly, the quality of this photograph is exceptional with its perfect exposure and symmetrical framing, things I have come to expect from images created by the Caufield & Shook studio.”

Carter Dry Goods and National Grocer, Louisville, Kentucky, 1922.

“This is a great example of a photo that shows buildings that still stand today in their original context. The large building in the center is the Carter Dry Goods which is now the Kentucky Science Center. If you go back and look at the building today, which was built in 1878, you can still see the name Carter Dry Goods at the top of the façade.”

Opening of Municipal Bridge, Jeffersonville, Indiana, 1929.

“Here is another photograph of a familiar Louisville landmark, the Second Street Bridge, on its opening day. The was the first bridge offering motor vehicle connection between Louisville and Southern Indiana, but here we see it filled with hundreds of pedestrians. I love this photograph particularly for the young man looking at the camera in a sea of people facing the other direction.”

Cherokee Park, Louisville, Kentucky, circa 1927.

“William Bowers, who joined the company as a third partner in 1907, took a lot of photographs around the parks of Louisville for the Caufield and Shook stock files that they would sell in their studio for people to decorate their homes with. These stock files were a very big source of their income and were located on the second floor of their studio and therefore were spared from damage from the 1937 flood. As a result, we have those original prints today in the collection.”

Transport Workers Union demonstration, Louisville, Kentucky, 1939.

“I love how this photo shows that Louisvillians were fighting for their rights back in 1939, just as we still are today. It’s a great shot of citizens demanding rights, better pay and conditions by protesting and holding signs.”

Hippodrome, Louisville, Kentucky, 1938.

“This photo is a great example of a view of downtown that no longer exists. These buildings are gone, replaced with a one-story building and a parking lot, but the church in the right-hand background is still present. Photos like this raise questions about why certain buildings and blocks were demolished and others were not, sparking an examination of the urban renewal that began here in the 1960s and ’70s. This corner constitutes the western edge of the ‘East Downtown Renewal Area’ that was considered a blighted area and designated for clearing.”

Puppies with bananas at Denunzio’s Fruit Market, Louisville, Kentucky, 1938.

“I’m a dog lover, especially of bully breeds like the ones pictured here. But this adorable photo also leads me to ask how and why this silly photo was taken. Was Caufield & Shook hired to create an advertisement for this fruit market? Were they the shop owner’s dogs? I love quirky photos like this.”

Bicyclists in front of Young’s Pharmacy, Louisville, Kentucky, 1938.

“This is an example of a photo that shows a building that still stands today and might be very recognizable to people who frequent Frankfort Avenue. With photos like this, I like to open Street View on Google Maps to match the same point of view of the old photograph and compare today’s view to what is seen in the photo. Today, there is still a ghost sign (a faded, painted ad on a building) of the name of pharmacy on the building. I also love this shot for the wet street reflecting light and the moment of the boy getting off his bicycle – it’s very atmospheric.”

Young’s Pharmacy interior, Louisville, Kentucky, 1927.

“This is an interior view of the pharmacy photographed above, but 11 years prior. There are far fewer interior views of old businesses and buildings than there are exterior shots, and I love seeing what these sorts of stores looked like and what types of wares they were selling.”

Children in Halloween costumes, 1928.

“I chose this photo really just because I’m a collector of vintage Halloween decorations and I just love zooming in and examining the details of the children’s beautiful costumes.”

If you are interested in having your students interact with primary source material, for your class.

To see what else lives in UofL’s archives, .

The Courier Journal – winner of 11 Pulitzer Prizes throughout its 154-year history – and its parent company Gannett have transferred its library of photographs and negatives to UofL Archives and Special Collections.

Members of Louisville’s Bingham family, which owned the newspaper from 1918 to 1986, have made a separate donation to support the collection, including preserving it, preparing it for use by the public, and developing programming to enable the public to engage with it.

Their combined generosity is creating the Barry Bingham Jr. Courier-Journal Photo Collection, announced UofL Interim President Lori Stewart Gonzalez. The unique journalistic collection is of local, state and national importance.

“We are incredibly grateful to the Courier Journal, Gannett, Emily Bingham, Molly Bingham and the rest of the Bingham family for making this historic gift possible,” Gonzalez said. “Generations of readers saw these photos in their daily newspaper each morning, and now, future generations will continue to be able to study and appreciate the insight they provide into the history of our city, state, nation and world.”

“This gift will allow the Courier Journal to retain the legacy of our work through this collection of historic photographs,” said Courier Journal Editor Mary Irby-Jones. “It is important for us to preserve and share our work with others so our community can learn about the history of Louisville as captured through our photographers in the field for more than 150 years. The Courier Journal is honored to entrust this priceless archive to the care of the University of Louisville for the purpose of making the collection available to the community for research and scholarship.”

“For most of a decade, it has been our dream to honor our father by finding a permanent, public home for the Courier Journal’s photographic collection,” Emily and Molly Bingham said in a joint statement. “This visual treasure is a testament to his dedication to high quality journalism, his passion for photography, his love of archives and his commitment to public access to information. He is up there somewhere today, smiling and joyfully twirling his trademark handlebar mustache.”

About the Barry Bingham Jr. Courier-Journal Photo Collection

The collection, consisting of images created by the photo department that served both the Courier Journal and the afternoon Louisville Times newspapers, chronicles daily happenings and major events from approximately the mid-1930s to the early 2000s when digital photography began to replace the use of film to capture images. The collection doubles the size of UofL’s photo holdings. It might have dated back further, but the Great Flood of 1937 destroyed much of the newspaper’s photo and negative library.

“The collection chronicles the civil rights movement, World War II, the Kentucky Derby through the years, presidential visits, changes in the built environment, and numerous public appearances and behind-the-scenes images of world leaders and celebrities,” said Archives and Special Collections Director Carrie Daniels. “Basically, all of the changes happening within our country were captured in these photographs.”

“It’s an incredible collection,” Elizabeth Reilly, photo archivist, said, “and with any large-scale acquisition like this, it will take years to process, organize and add information to the collection, to make images discoverable and usable by the public.

“A small portion of the collection will be available online, and, as we process the amazing imagery it contains, we will be opening up bigger and bigger parts of the collection to the public, making it accessible to everyone who wants to see it.”

Reilly credited Barry Bingham Jr., the third and last Bingham family member to serve as the paper’s publisher, for his devotion to setting high standards for the photography his newspaper published. The Courier Journal won two Pulitzer Prizes for photojournalism during his tenure.

“He was a huge supporter of high-quality photojournalism,” Reilly said. “He grew and improved the quality of photography in the newspaper through investments, hiring talented photojournalists, and giving them time and travel budget to capture visual information beyond the news moment or press release. That commitment to quality is reflected in the collection and adds to its national significance.”

Daniels cited the increase in scholarship and creative potential that the collection will bring to UofL.

“Our Photographic Archives already contain 2-to-3 million historical, documentary and fine art images dating from the 19^th century to today that capture faces, buildings, landscapes and events from around the world, with a focus on Louisville and Kentucky. These images have appeared in scholarly or artistic work, including filmmaker Ken Burns’ documentaries, Dustbowl, Prohibition and Baseball. This dramatically increases our ability to provide images that everyone, including scholars and artists, will be able to use going forward, and we are very excited about that,” she said.

Note: Forty images from the collection have now been digitized and are��.

The Lonesome Pine Special concert series ran in 1984 through 2000 at the Bomhard Theater in the Kentucky Center for the Arts. With a mission to be a musical “all things considered” platform for rising stars, underappreciated veterans and unique voices, it attracted numerous national acts such as Lyle Lovett, k.d. lang and They Might Be Giants.

The success of the concert series led to broadcasts on National Public Radio and PBS, airing in over 180 markets and five countries.

The series was created and programmed by Van Kleeck, who then served as the programming director for the Kentucky Center. The exhibition will feature more than 70 images by Bram, mostly in black and white.

“Archives and Special Collections is honored to preserve the legacy of this significant cultural chapter of local history. Bram and Van Kleeck’s work is right at home in the Photographic Archives and we encourage everyone to view the rich tapestry of performers that made up the Lonesome Pine Special series,” said Elizabeth Reilly, Photographic Archives curator.

Van Kleek returned to Louisville in 2014 after 13 years as director of concerts at the Bienen School of Music and the Davee Distance Learning Initiative, Northwestern University.

“I discovered that there was still a lot of interest and fond memories related��to the Lonesome Pine Specials concert series. I knew Richard Bram had many wonderful photographs from the series��that had not��been shown. I also had many hours of video from the Lonsome Pine Specials PBS series. This seemed like a perfect match, to combine the Bram photos��and a new retrospective live action video I have editd into one exhibit that would celebrate an important part of Louisville’s rich cultural history circa 1984-2000,” he said.

There will be an 3-6 p.m. Jan. 26 in Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium. Bram will speak, as well as Van Kleeck, who will also air the film he edited. Other speakers include Bob Hill, former columnist for The Courier-Journal; Leslie Stewart, former WFPL host; and John Timmons, WFPK host and founder of ear X-tacy Records. Composer and violinist Scott Moore will perform a new work inspired by the diversity of musical styles presented on the concert series.

“I am very pleased that the UofL Photo Archives and Special Collections will include this cultural story, these photographs and the video in their nationally celebrated collections. It is indeed an honor. In fact, this exhibit is a rounding of a circle. Each season, over sixteen years, the series featured a brilliant photo from the UofL Photo Archives,” Van Kleeck said. “I am especially��pleased that new generations will be introduced to this series, and also to many outstanding artists that they may not have known about before seeing this exhibit.”

Third floor renovations are now complete following months of construction. Visitors will find modern study spaces, a large wall of windows, a reading room and a dedicated graduate student area. The entire floor will remain a quiet spot for study.

While most of the project is complete, workers are still putting the final touches on some areas. Furniture delivery will continue throughout the year and into the spring semester.

The goal of the project was to provide upgraded study space throughout the year and particularly during peak periods.

To make way for the renovation, some of Ekstrom’s collection housed on the third floor was relocated or removed. Many books are now on the fourth floor, and some are in high-density storage, or the Robotic Retrieval System (RRS). Patrons who are unable to find books or other materials in the library’s collection may use our����������ٱ�.

The third-floor renovation was the next step in the recent transformation of Ekstrom Library into an academic success center for all Belknap campus students. The 1st floor was renovated in 2016 with many student success programs clustered together, including REACH, the Digital Media Suite, Research and Technology Support, Writing Center and help desk. Group and individual learning spaces were added and improved there as well.

All renovations were inspired by .��

The Libraries will continue to raise funds to complete a proposed Jewish Studies Reading Room in space formerly occupied by the Writing Center. Libraries Development Director Matt Wyatt is working with the and the to fund an inspiring venue for local and national lectures, presentations and other events.

Libraries is also in the process of creating a gender-neutral/family changing station bathroom on the second floor of the west side.

The Biennial, now in its 11th year, runs through Nov. 10 with 69 exhibits, 10 workshops, 42 receptions and artist talks.

Photography exhibitions – spanning traditional to contemporary and local to global –��are mounted at museums, galleries, businesses and cultural institutions all over the city.

UofL is participating with a number of exhibitions at campus galleries.

“Any festival that hopes for longevity needs to support and encourage young artists and our partnerships with all our local universities, especially the University of Louisville, allow us to do that,” said Sam Miller, gallery assistant at Paul Paletti Gallery and a Photo Biennial administrator. “In addition to the faculty who have helped as Biennial volunteers, we have always been able to count on UofL to provide the most diverse programming. For an example of that you need to look no further than 2019. We have 2 historical shows – the Walker Evans and Jay Mather, which won a Pulitzer, and two shows curated by grad students, Rachid Tougoulla and Zed Saeed. Its depth like that that makes us look forward to the University’s Biennial contribution year after year.”

This show��focuses on a two-year period (1935-36) in which the American photographer Walker Evans created some of the most iconic images of America in the throes of the Great Depression. Featuring letters and photographs from the Library of Congress and from the Roy Stryker Papers housed at UofL’s Archives and Special Collections, this exhibition includes a special section on Evans’s photographs for��“Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” by James Agee. The show was curated by MFA photography student, Zed Saeed.

Location:��Schneider Galleries,��Schneider Hall,��UofL
Schedule: Running through Nov. 1.��Gallery Hours are Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Saeed’s graduate work uses the aesthetics of straight photography to capture images of places and people that are off limits or inaccessible. The Gentlemen’s Clubs of Louisville often hide in plain sight. Saeed’s photography of these clubs is an ongoing project in which he hopes to capture images and stories of a forbidden spaces and their inhabitants.

Location: Schneider Galleries,��Schneider Hall,��UofL
Schedule: Running through Nov. 1.��Gallery Hours are Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

��

Photographs in this show are dependent on the projection of light rather than on a camera or lens. The��works in��“Lensless,”��including chemigrams, photograms and lumen prints, engage with current trends in which the camera is superfluous to the production of photographic images. This group exhibition is curated by Mitch Eckert, Associate Professor of Art.

Location: Cressman Center, 100 E. Main St.
Schedule: Running through Oct. 26. Gallery hours are Wednesday-Friday 11a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

Archives and Special Collection presents this collection of Pulitzer Prize-winning photos taken for The Courier-Journal in 1979. The exhibition marks the 40th anniversary of the fall of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime.

Location: Photographic Archives, Lower Level, Ekstrom Library

Schedule: Running through Dec. 16. Gallery hours are Monday–Friday ��9 a.m.-5 p.m.

This spring, five photography students received a scholarship from Hite Art Institute to travel to Morocco under the supervision of Professor Mary Carothers and Rachid Tagoulla, Hite’s first international MFA student. The group participated in a film festival sponsored by Ibn Zohr University, based in Agadir, a modern coastal city where they made lasting friendships from all over the world. Students also met with photographers from Club Photo d’Agadir and discussed ways to build exchange exhibitions. The Hite students then accompanied Professor Carothers to Tetouan, an ancient city nestled in the Rif mountains, where she has developed a partnership with Green Olive Art Center. This partnership will provide customized artist residencies for Hite students beginning summer 2020.

“Morocco, Many Eyes, One Vision!” presents an inclusive exhibition of photographs by the Hite students who attended the excursion and members of Club Photo D’Agadir. Curated by Tagoulla, the exhibition asks audience members to explore the ideas and emotions that bind humanity together.

Location: Hite Art Institute Portland MFA Studio, 1606 Rowan St.

Schedule: By appointment, call��502-852-6794

Dr. Tom Owen, archivist in University Libraries for 44 years, has found yet another way to get folks engaged in the city’s past.

This summer, Owen unveiled “,” a new YouTube channel featuring segments on local history. In each short episode, he recounts a bygone tale, often uncovering new information using primary sources and research tools found in .

He promises a new segment each month.

, Owen uncovers a 1960s mystery building near Breckinridge and Hancock streets, while telling the larger story of urban renewal in Louisville. In the , he spins the tumultuous tale of an office building at Chestnut and Liberty where working women and children were swept into a heartbreaking labor strike.

“It’s a great story,” he said, with his characteristic enthusiasm.

Owen said the project is an extension of the kind of work he’s done throughout his career.

“Very early on I stumbled into telling pieces of history, episodic stories, blessed with a notion that for something to be important or a story to be interesting, George Washington did not have to have slept there,” he said. “There’s a story under every rock.”

Owen’s inimitable charm and knack for storytelling has made him a favorite in local media through the years. He’s done a local history series for WHAS, KET and Louisville Public Media. Owen, who is a former Louisville Metro Council member, is also known for his walking history tours of downtown neighborhoods.

All of his work is about using stories to reach people and connect them with their past, he says, which influences the present. Now, he’s using the medium of the moment to do it. YouTube, after all, is cheap, easy and immediate. ����

“I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I do,” he said.

Artifacts range from a t-shirt that jokingly asks “Who the hall is Tilda Threkald?” to a flag from Louisville Municipal College, a separate UofL campus for African American students until integration, to a typewriter pulled from the wreckage of the Student Union Building when it burned in 1951.

The show’s photographs range from black and white images from the 1930s to photos from last year’s Crawfish Boil.

There is also a digital carousel with 250 images of UofL athletics.

“It is a broad look at 90 years of student life at UofL that includes three exhibit areas,” said Tom Owen, archivist.

The show was a group effort from staff and faculty within ASC and was largely inspired by Welcome Week.

“We asked, what do we want students to see? And, the answer was, themselves! We wanted them to see student life here,” said Jennifer Oberhausen, libraries assistant.

Viewers will notice commonalities and traditions that carry through the ages and also the unique spin each generation puts on their UofL experience.

New students are encourage to see the show and also check out the library during its annual .

“Your undergraduate years can be a time of exploration, of learning from people who are different from you – and finding and connecting with folks who share your interests,” said Carrie Daniels, director of ASC. “It’s a time of building your skills and practicing ways to change the world for the better. It’s a time of pushing yourself intellectually, spending time in – of all places – that temple of learning, the library.”

With enrollment at UofL predicted to grow in the coming years, Libraries leadership seeks to utilize current available space to provide a high-quality library experience. Raising the seat-to-student ratio helps UofL’s competitive edge in recruiting new students and retaining current ones.

Planned for several years, the $3M project is primarily funded by gifts and endowments, as well as a $500,000 grant from UofL administration as part of its student initiatives program. It is heartily endorsed by the Student Government Association. In planning the renovation, the Libraries also worked with its Libraries Student Advisory Board and conducted a comprehensive survey last year that revealed the need for more high-quality study spaces.

A large component of the renovation is a proposed Jewish Studies Reading Room in space formerly occupied by the Writing Center. Currently, Libraries Development Director Matt Wyatt is working with the UofL Jewish Studies program and the local to raise necessary funds for this project, which will serve to inspire current and future Jewish scholars and recognize this important constituency on campus.

During construction, access to the third floor will be limited; the Delphi Center’s Teaching Innovation Learning Lab (TILL) will remain open, and students will be welcome on any other floor. The bulk of the project will take place May through September and wrap up soon after. The third floor will remain a quiet floor after construction.

Libraries personnel have been working diligently over the past year to relocate books and clear the way for the renovation. As of February 22, numerous books have been moved to either the 4^th��floor of Ekstrom (175k), the Robotic Retrieval System (RRS) (22k), or high-density storage (16k). This process is ongoing and will continue as books continue their migration. Because of the time and care involved in curating, documenting and filing information, some materials will be inaccessible for a period of time, roughly between six months to two years. The urgent need for renovations prompted an acceleration of the collections migration, and curation will continue as quickly as possible over the foreseeable future to return most books back into circulation.

As this process takes place, the Libraries will practice intelligent stewardship, to make sure all materials are useful and necessary for the important work of undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and other researchers. As in every academic and public library, some materials in the collections, like duplicate titles, or others that have not been used or checked out in the entire time they’ve been housed in the stacks, are subject to weeding. Ekstrom librarians have led a meticulous process of curation to ensure the library retains all appropriate materials of high quality.

Materials undergoing migration comprise hardcover books prior to 2000 from Library of Congress A-N. All LOC A-N books published after 2000 will remain on the floor, located in the southwest quadrant, and fully accessible to students and researchers.

Patrons who wish to borrow materials that have been moved may use the����system to access them from other libraries. Typically, article requests can be fulfilled within 36 hours and book/loan requests within a week-10 working days. T

To provide information to the University community and the public, the Libraries have created����about the project.

Providing upgraded study space throughout the year and particularly during peak periods is a main objective of University Libraries Dean Bob Fox, who plans to renovate Ekstrom’s third floor in the coming year, adding new seating and modernized study areas. It is a project recently awarded a $500,000 grant by University Administration, and heartily endorsed by the Student Government Association.

“UofL is on track to grow from 22,000 to 30,000 students,” said Fox. “We need to be able to support a larger university population with a high-quality library experience.

“Our footprint and square footage will not grow, so we need to make use of the space we have. We want to provide students with upgraded study areas and seating so they are supported during times when they really need space in the library. Raising the seat-to-student ratio in our central library helps UofL’s competitive edge in recruiting new students and retaining current ones.”

Reaching that goal will require relocation of some lesser-used collections to a new storage bay, which was just opened in Ekstrom Library’s (RRS) to free up space for seating. The expansive metal shelves will be filled with a variety of materials from Ekstrom’s third floor, along with items from Archives/Special Collections, Music and Art libraries.

For cost and efficiency reasons, the new storage bay was built adjacent to, but not part of, the RRS, which will continue to operate as before. Many visitors are aware of the RRS, with its tall steel shelving separated by glass behind Ekstrom’s west service desk, where anyone requesting an item can watch as a large mechanical arm lifts a long shelf from a long row, pivots and steadily delivers the bin to a waiting Libraries staff member. The RRS is identical to retrieval systems in auto parts retailers, warehouses or distribution centers; however, while the technology was state-of-the-art when it was first installed in 2005, it has now become somewhat dated and hence prohibitively expensive to expand. The new storage bay was completed with a much lower budget and will hold just as much as another RRS bay.

Currently, the Libraries are working with a strong donor base to raise funds for the third floor renovation. JRA Architects, hired for the recent renovation of Ekstrom’s First Floor East, has been chosen to design the project, which is currently estimated to total $3.5 to 4 million. Renderings of potential uses of the space reveal expansive study areas with open floor plans, ample natural light and a potential reading room in the Writing Center’s old offices. The Libraries will share future renderings as programming further defines the final design.

The ��just opened its newest exhibition

The exhibition features photography from more than 15 artists who have collectively documented Louisville’s music scene for nearly 40 years.

More than 300 photos reveal the tone and tenor��of the various bands, people and venues that have defined rock, indie, punk and hardcore music throughout the city. Many of the photos were taken by, or feature, Louisville’s rock royalty, such as�� and members of the 90s band Slint, .����

Elizabeth Reilly,��curator of Photographic Archives, and Marcy Werner, imaging manager and curatorial assistant, tag-teamed the show.

recently about collecting the images for the show.

“For this particular exhibition, I invited photographers to show their work,” she said.

Photographers include Alex Ayers, Heather Cantrell, Bill Carner, Aron Conaway, Guy Dove, Tim Furnish, Ross Gordon, Laura Arrot Hartford, Chris Higdon, Sarah Lyon, Jennifer Martin, Doug Maxson, Will Oldham, Lonnie Tuner and others.

Artifacts from the ��accompany the exhibition, such as band items, flyers and posters.

LUMA seeks to catalog Louisville’s influential music scene with all sorts of artifacts.��

“We started collecting materials in 2013, and were getting stuff, but I wasn’t seeing as many photographs as I had expected,” Reilly told Insider Louisville. “I knew they were out there. I know the hesitation to let go of treasures, so I decided to have an exhibition and invite people I know shot photographs.”

The approach worked and new photos, many of which have never been published or seen by the wider public, can now be seen in the exhibition.��

Reilly’s own punk rock past informs her interest and passion for the LUMA project.

“I’ve been listening to the Louisville music since the early ’90s, when I lived in California,” Reilly told Insider Louisville. “I also photographed live bands when I was younger. A lot of it was punk and hard core. So this is something I’ve always been in tune with.”

Reilly added that she hoped that the exhibition would be educational for people, and especially show the deep ties that exist in Louisville’s music scene, which have been so influential to the wider world.��

Most exhibitions by Photographic Archives feature between 40 and 60 pieces, but “Live from a Dark Room” has close to 300 images.��

“I always pictured this show hanging salon-style, that’s just almost covering the walls,” she told Insider Louisville. “It’s also unique because we’re using all different kinds of frames, different displays and presentations. It’s really going to be visually impactful.”

The exhibition is on display through Dec. 20 in the UofL Photographic Archives gallery in the lower level of Ekstrom Library, 2215 S. Third St.