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One of the highlights of Hopewell Borough’s 125th Anniversary starts tomorrow night. Morpeth Gallery will be hosting a joint show of seldom-seen photographs presented by local historical David Blackwell, of the Hopewell Valley Historical Society, and David Sellers, a private collector of Lindbergh materials. The show will open on Friday March 4 and remain at Morpeth Gallery until March 11th.
David Blackwell, a long time local historian, has assembled an exhibit called “Faces and Places,” which includes 19th and early 20th century photographs depicting Hopewell Borough citizens of the past and highlights the residences where they lived and businesses where they worked in. Some images are from the Historical Society’s collection and many are shown by the generosity of local residents from their private collections.
“Faces and Places” shows historic Hopewell photographs, features and an enlargement of the Baptist Congregation photo of 1893, displaying the very faces you would have seen in Hopewell streets just two years after the Borough was formed. Identifications of most people in the photo were given to Blackwell in 1966, by Carrie Blackwell and Ann Holcombe. There is also a life-sized portrait of Elder Purington, a minister of the Old School Baptist Church in the period just before the Borough.
David Sellers will show selections from his collection of Lindbergh photographs, most of which have not been seen locally. Also shown through the generosity of Mr. Sellers, the Hopewell Herald’s original proof press dating from the 1880’s will be at the exhibition. Sellers will also display an original Hopewell 100th Anniversary poster he created for that milestone. He will have a new 125th Anniversary broadside created for this year’s celebration with two levels of prints available for sale.
After being displayed at Morpeth Gallery, “Faces and Places” will relocate to Borough Hall. Later, it will be offered to the Hopewell Museum to become part of their collection.
Check out the show at Morpeth at 43 West Broad Street, opening Friday March 4, or anytime the gallery is open until March 11th.
