Looking back: Graduate Student Thesis Exhibition held in the AGS Library 2004
The AGS Library had the honor of providing space for a graduate student to host her senior art exhibit on the 3rd floor of the east wing of the Gold Meir Library.
In December of 2004, UWM graduate student Beth Carlson hosted an exhibit of photographs at the AGS Library. Her exhibit, titled: “Travel Photography and the Western Image of Tibet: The Work of Harrison Forman” featured prints and negatives preserved at the AGS Library by Harrison Forman, often described by his peers as the Modern Day Marco Polo.
The exhibit was part of Carlson’s Masters of Arts in Art History degree at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. Her exhibit catalog, and thesis analyzed 40 of Forman’s 1930s travel photographs of Tibet and compared them to other images of the Far East by Western photographers. The AGS Library proved to be a lovely space to host Carlson’s exhibit that included a reception, a slide show and a brief lecture.
The exhibit included photographs, books, maps, scrapbooks, and graphic novels featuring Harrison Forman.
Harrison Forman was a Milwaukee native who graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1929. He later worked as a foreign correspondent in the Far East for the New York Times, London Times and the National Broadcasting Company. Forman was an avid lecturer on international relations and became a Fellow of the American Geographical Society, Explorers Club, Circumnavigators Club and the Overseas Press. Forman died in 1978 and his photos were donated to the AGS Library by his wife, Sandra Carlyle Forman in 1987.
At the time of Beth Carlson’s senior exhibition, the AGS Library didn’t have a full time librarian dedicated the photograph collections. In 2006, Susan Peschel was promoted to the role of Visual Resources Librarian. The Forman collection has since been process and described and is available through the UWM Libraries digital collections.
Harrison Forman in the Asia Middle East Collection
While in the field, Forman maintained diaries containing information directly relevant to his photography. Those diaries are online here: Harrison Forman diaries
The inspiration for this post came up when Map Librarian, Angie Cope, met a library employee studying Art History at UWM. Angie wanted to show the student the beautiful exhibit that was held in the AGSL. However, the timing couldn’t be better to recognize this exhibit NOW because this year also represents the actual completion of organizing a collection. The entire Harrison Forman collection has been processed, scanned and put online in the UW Milwaukee digital collections! That’s amazing! You can read about it here: https://uwm.edu/lib-collections/harrison-forman/?fbclid=IwAR0-1ORMMHoowf276YPLEm5lcYyCclxFyEgLwc98wpWsrk_O6pSbz_g67DI
American Geographical Society Library 