FEATURED ESSAY

You are Invited...

Many events are organized in relation to exhibitions: openings, galas, previews, special lectures, concerts, etc. The WAM collection contains many invitations to such events in association with exhibitions past.

American Identities: Cabinet Card Portraits, 1870-1910, from The Doan Family Collection exhibited February 25-March 22, 1985 at the University Art Museum in Northrop Auditorium.

woman in an old fashioned dress
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From a February 19, 1985 UM News Release (Digital Conservancy):

"The exhibition presents a selection of 55 Cabinet cards, primarily Midwestern in origin, collected by the Doan family of Fort Dodge, Iowa, over the past 20 years... The "artist-photographers" who produced the portraits shifted around scenes and properties until the right "fit" for the subject was achieved... It was important to present subjects at their best in the chosen role, whether beau, debutante, successful merchant or farmer, war hero or proud parents. Even the most humble person took on an air of dignity in the photographer's lens."

Rebecca Wilson

Rebecca Wilson is a graduate student in the Master of Liberal Studies program at the University of Minnesota, completing a minor in Museum Studies. She also serves as a Visitor Services Assistant at the Weisman Art Museum.

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