“Serenity Sisters,” Hoyt Photo, Tinton Falls, date unknown. A new gallery at the Monmouth Museum is the setting for an exhibit that affords a glimpse at a trove of vintage images that preserve a record of life in Monmouth County over the past century.
“Dorn’s Collection of Vintage Images” is the inaugural exhibition in the museum’s new Nilson Gallery.
For the past 15 years, while she worked at her family’s photo shop in Red Bank, Kathy Dorn Severini, was the de facto curator of more than 5,000 vintage images plus thousands of aerial photographs, of Monmouth County and New York City.
Since the business founded by her father in the 1930s closed last year, she has continued the work of preserving the images which have been reborn as the Dorn’s Classic Images collection.
From rescuing fragile glass plate and negatives to digitizing and databasing this irreplaceable treasure, she approaches preservation of this important record of life in the area as a labor of love.
“Is it Granada I see, or only Asbury Park?” Wesley Lake, Asbury Park, 1960. “This officially became Dorn’s Classic Images just a couple of months ago, but the process for me is ongoing since I started working at the shop,” she said. “When I came on board in 1989, it’s all I talked about, going over the glass plates, 4-by-5 negatives, finding more from the 1930s when [Dad] started. It was just like a treasure trove. I love them. “
Included in the exhibit at the Nilson Gallery are 25 framed images plus some matted photos that are available for purchase.
“I choose what I thought would be interesting plus images of everyday life in Monmouth County, turn-of-the-century images that are wonderful like the Asbury Park boardwalk,” she said. “I was trying to get a good cross section.”
Her father, the late Daniel Dorn Sr., founded Dorn’s Photo Shop in Red Bank in the 1930s. During his career, he acquired the collection from various sources and he, his staff and son Dan Jr. added to it over the next 60 years.
“Winter Mischief,” date unknown. According to Dorn Severini, the collection includes more than 10,000 images, ranging from turn-of-the-century glass plate images to color aerial photos taken in 2005.
The archives are her family legacy and she is getting help in preserving the images from husband, George, and daughter, Kaitlin.
“They’re helping scan images and catalog them. More than 6,000 are already cataloged,” she said.
Once scanned, the images are put on a DVD and multiple copies are made and stored in different locations.
“The originals are being preserved in this way, and in the future I’ll try to get grants to protect them the way they’re supposed to be protected,” she said. “My goal is store them in archival papers and folders.”
Dorn’s Classic Images includes period photographs of most every aspect of bygone times from intimate studies of people as well as panoramic views of towns, rivers and oceanfronts, sporting events, parades, fairs and antique transportation.
After preserving the irreplaceable images, paramount in Dorn Severini’s plans is to ensure that the collection is available to the public.
“I want them preserved and I want people to see them,” said Dorn Severini. “Dad saved all the plates, made sure they were in a good place. He bought them when other photographers were going out of business. Probably in the back of his mind [he] was saving them; plus, a photographer never wants to get rid of a negative.”
During the exhibition, photographs will be available either matted or framed and the museum will receive 30 percent of all sales.
The Dorn’s Classic Images exhibit will run through June 4.
According to Julia Fiorino, public relations coordinator for the museum, the new Nilson Gallery is named in honor of museum benefactor and well-known Realtor Gloria Nilson, who donated $100,000 toward the expansion of the museum.
The 930-square-foot-gallery located on the ground floor, to the left of entrance, will be dedicated to smaller exhibitions, Fiorino said.
“It is designed to be used for multiple purposes. It can accommodate 100 people for exhibitions, meetings, lectures and parties. It is the museum mission to serve a wider audience by expanding our exhibitions space,” she said.
A series of small group exhibits will follow in the Nilson Gallery. Monmouth County member arts organizations including the Art Alliance and the Guild of Creative Art will lend their artists’ works to present a sampling of what can be seen in their own galleries. In 2007, the museum will inaugurate a juried Monmouth County Artist series in the gallery.
“We really want to provide another space where local artists can show their work,” Fiorino said. “We thought that there was a real need for that.”
The Monmouth Museum is located on the Brookdale Community College Campus, 765 Newman Springs Road, in Lincroft. The Nilson Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Admission is $6 per person; children 2 and under are admitted free. For more information, call the museum at (732) 747-2266.
For information on Dorn’s Classic Images, contact Dorn Severini at (732) 747-9350. – Gloria Stravelli