Author Description

"Abilene spang up on the West Texas plains in 1881 and came of age during the last decades of the nineteenth century, just as technological advences were making photographs affordable and accessible to everyone. From the start, Abilenians photographed their home town with an avidity and pride; this enthusiam is reflected in this book, a photographic self-portrait and celebration of Abilene's first 100 years. The photographs in this book chart Abilene's evolution from frontier cowtown to modern city. An image of cowboys gathered around a chuckwagon gives way to a photograph of young girls eating fast food in a covered mall. But a common theme runs through the historical photographs and the work by five contemporary photographers; Abilene is a town of proud, hard-working and church-going people. The people of Abilene are to be commended for this project. By Combining in one publication historical photographs and contemporary photographs of their community, they call attention to the importance of every communty's photographic legacy to preserve old photographs and to see that exciting new work continues to be done."--Marni Sandweiss, Curator of Photographs, Amon Cart Museum, Fort Worth.--From back cover.