LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The University of Louisville Photographic Archives kicks off a yearlong celebration of its 50th anniversary with an exhibit and talk on the 1937 Ohio River flood.
󈬻th Anniversary of the 1937 Flood” will open with a reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 26—nearly 75 years to the day that the Ohio River crested in Louisville at a record 30.4 feet above flood stage. The reception will be outside of the Photographic Archives gallery, east wing, lower level, Ekstrom Library.
Historian Robert Reid will talk about the flood and its impact on Louisville and the surrounding area at 6 p.m., in Room W104, in the west wing of the library.
The exhibit will include images from Photographic Archives’ holdings—such as aerial photos taken by the Indiana Air National Guard—and photos obtained from Getty Images that renowned photographer Margaret Bourke-White took for Life magazine. It also will include photos that Louisvillian Corwin Short shot of Bourke-White while she was in Louisville. Short acted as Bourke-White’s guide at the behest of Mayor Neville Miller.
“This is a different way of looking at the flood,” said longtime UofL photo wrangler Bill Carner.
Exhibit hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays through March 9. Admission is free.
The Photographic Archives’ holdings of 2 million documentary images and fine art prints provide a resource for scholars, media, authors and filmmakers, as well as inspiration for photographers and other artists.
For information on the exhibit, call the Photographic Archives at 502-852-6752. For information on Photographic Archives’ holdings, click here.