Collection Connection

Learn more about art in one-hour presentations by regional experts. Free and open to the public. H. Jason Combs: Pioneer Life on Glass, The Balcom-Green Collection Wednesday, November 15 • 2:00 p.m. Henry Balcom and his son-in-law Ray Green were farmers and highly skilled, talented amateur photographers who took around 1200 glass plate photographs of settlement experiences in the Central Great Plains. They were active from the mid 1890s until the 1920s, by which time Henry was in his 70s. This collection of photographs presents a sustained significant record of the realities of daily life, particularly in Hall County. These informal portraits and images are a true and rare account of pioneer life through the eyes of pioneer photographers. Dr. H. Jason Combs, Professor of Geography at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, is co-author of a recent publication about the Balcom-Green Collection, along with Nebraska historian Kenneth Harders. Combs has written a number of articles appearing in journals such as Material Culture, Journal of Cultural Geography, and Professional Geographer.