A University and Its Community

"Patapsco: Portrait of a Valley"




Their portraits--their faces, their own words, their surroundings--tell the stories of their lives and give a vivid sense of a certain time and place in Maryland. And their world came alive on the walls of UMBC's Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery when the exhibit "Portraits of the Patapsco" made its debut this spring.

The exhibit brought together the evocative portraits of photographer Peggy Fox and excerpts from oral histories gathered by folklorist Alison Kahn to capture ordinary people going about their lives: There are farmers, teachers, a police chief, mill workers, a beautician, and just plain folk whose families have lived in the towns of the Patapsco River Valley for generations. Commissioned as part of Howard County's 150th anniversary celebration, the 70 portraits and accompanying stories in the exhibition are the fruit of a three-year collaborative effort between Fox and Kahn, and they have won praise for their depth and insight.

"If you think of history as something relegated to the yellowed pages of an old library book, the exhibit on the walls of UMBC's Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery will serve as a reminder that history is a living thing," said one local reviewer.

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