Arkansas Photography

Author and photographer Chris Engholm will present a multimedia program entitled "Hugo and Gayne Preller's House of Light," Saturday, April 5 at 1:00 p.m. at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History. The program will feature historic images of life along the White River in the Arkansas Delta from the early to mid-1900s.

"Hugo Preller was a German photographer, painter, watchmaker, and gunsmith. His wife, Gayne [say GAY-nee], was a Kentucky merchant's daughter and one of the earliest female commercial photographers in the South," explained Engholm. "In the late 1800s, Hugo and Gayne built a houseboat and 'floating photography studio.' They traveled down the Mississippi River, docking at towns for weeks as Hugo repaired guns and clocks, and as both he and Gayne took pictures of people and places along the river. The Prellers eventually settled in the east Arkansas town of Augusta, where they continued their work as photographers until 1950," said Engholm.

The Shiloh Museum is located at 118 W. Johnson Avenue in downtown Springdale. For more information, call 750-8165 or visit http://shilohmuseum.org.