Artist Lydia Sohlberg Deere
(Lydia's Lindsborg Photography, 1900-1925)
(Lydia's Lindsborg Photography, 1900-1925)
The Smoky Hill Bluffs
(Coronado Heights)
(Coronado Heights)
The Smoky Hill Bluffs photographs were taken between 1900 and 1914, while Lydia was at her first Lindsborg job at the Sohlberg Millinery Company and her succeeding job at Bethany College as Dean of Women and Matron of the Ladies Dormitory at Lane Hart Hall.
They were mostly of Bethany College students and of Lydia’s niece, Nina Sohlberg, with her girlfriends. Lydia here, as well, had her trusting subjects take risks to get the right compositions for her photographs.
Early history of this area reveals that the Smoky Hill Bluffs were also referred to as the Smoky Valley Bluffs, Smoky Valley Buttes, and the Spanish Buttes.* Since 1919 their official name became Coronado Heights.
To vary the viewing experience, sometimes I have displayed the photographs individually and then in groupings.
They were mostly of Bethany College students and of Lydia’s niece, Nina Sohlberg, with her girlfriends. Lydia here, as well, had her trusting subjects take risks to get the right compositions for her photographs.
Early history of this area reveals that the Smoky Hill Bluffs were also referred to as the Smoky Valley Bluffs, Smoky Valley Buttes, and the Spanish Buttes.* Since 1919 their official name became Coronado Heights.
To vary the viewing experience, sometimes I have displayed the photographs individually and then in groupings.
- Nina and her friends at the Smoky Hill Bluffs -
- Bethany College Women -
- Bethany College Men -
- Selma Sohlberg and Lydia's Shadow -
Lydia's sister, my great grandmother, stiffly poses
Lydia's sister, my great grandmother, stiffly poses
For Coronado Heights -- One Winter's Day, go HERE
*Sources: Geology of Study in the Area of the Smoky Valley Buttes, 1907 Master Thesis by Dr. Emil O. Deere; 1965 Pioneer Swedish-American Culture in Central Kansas by Ruth Billdt; 1975 Bethany in Kansas, the history of a college by Dr. Emory Lindquist.
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Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated, or obviously concluded it is not.
Copyright © 2019 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated, or obviously concluded it is not.
Copyright © 2019 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
