'Worth a Thousand Words' at East Hampton Library

The East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection has unveiled a new exhibit in the library’s front lobby display cases titled “Worth a Thousand Words: Iconic Photographs from The East Hampton Star Photo Archive Through 1978.” The exhibit features material from The East Hampton Star Photo Archive, as well as material collected from before The Star’s founding in 1885, up to 1978. The images feature people, places and events that are frequently referenced or well-known, while also capturing the essence of East Hampton as a community.

Andrea Meyer, Head of the Long Island Collection, stated that, “The East Hampton Star Photo Archive is one of the best collections of images documenting life in East Hampton and the neighboring communities from the dawn of photography in the 19th century through present day.”

The East Hampton Star purchased the rights to photographs it collected, and the photo collection includes submissions from members of the public, as well as photographers both on-staff for the newspaper and unaffiliated working within the community. The collection ranges from glass plate negatives to modern color photos, with the bulk of the material falling after 1940.

“While several places like the National Register define ‘historic’ as 50 years, the Long Island Collection felt strongly that the rapid changes in the community over the last 40 years, combined with the dates of a few key events, justified moving the scope of the exhibit forward to 45 years ago,” Meyer noted. “This time frame allows us to include images through 1978, while focusing on iconic images from the community’s history.”

The exhibit emerged from an ongoing partnership between the East Hampton Library and The East Hampton Star, which has allowed the Long Island Collection to digitize and make accessible to the public The East Hampton Star’s Photo Archive through the Library’s Digital Long Island website. The project allows access to the images for research, nonprofit, and private use.

“We hope this exhibit will encourage members of the community to visit the East Hampton Star Photo Archive and share information about the people, events and places in the photographs, since many of them have very limited identifying information,” said Meyer.

The new exhibit will be on display through September and is viewable during library hours, Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. , and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. East Hampton Library is at 159 Main Street, East Hampton. For details, visit easthamptonlibrary.org.