The Brown & White

Lehigh students live and study in the shadow of Bethlehem Steel, but often only learn about Bethlehem's history in fragments of words and stories.

Throughout September, however, Lehigh students have the chance to look at snapshots of history and see a part of Bethlehem that is as haunting as it is humbling.

Since Friday, a collection of 24 photographs of the Lehigh Valley, taken by famous American photographer Walker Evans, have been on display at Timezones Global Goodies and Framing Gallery at 322 E. Third St.

The exhibit is sponsored by the South Bethlehem Historical Society, the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor and the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission.

The month-long exhibit features Evans' prints, which were made by John T. Hill and Sven Martson, photographers and former colleagues of Evans.

Evans was a photographer known for his visual documentation of America during the Great Depression. He arrived in Pennsylvania in 1935 while on a photographic campaign for the Resettlement Administration, an organization founded to relocate struggling families to communities planned by the federal government.

Easton resident, photographer and Evans enthusiast Curt Rowell said an interest in the Great Depression led to a fondness for Evans' work.

"My parents considered themselves children of the Depression and I grew up very conscious of that," Rowell said. "I always had a great interest in the Depression years and how people were affected and how they lived."

Evans had an eye for the significant and frequently overlooked details and was successfully able to capture them, Rowell said.

While in the Lehigh Valley, Evans captured the sights of working-class towns in an era when decent jobs were few and far between. The photographs Evans took during this time have since become regarded as some of his best works by critics and have been catalogued in the Library of Congress.

Included in the exhibit is one of Evans' most famous photographs, "Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 1935," taken from St. Michael's Cemetery on East Fourth Street.

The photograph captures a series of South Side homes tightly packed between the headstones of the cemetery and the smoke stacks of Bethlehem Steel.

Along with the photography exhibit, two other events are planned to celebrate Evans' work and his significance to the historical record of the Lehigh Valley.

Rodger Kingston, an expert on the life and work of Evans, will give a lecture at the Fowler Southside Campus of Northampton Community College Thursday Sept. 25 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in room 461.

Prior to the lecture, a tour of St. Michael's Cemetery will be held from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

A reception at Timezones Global Goodies and Framing Gallery is scheduled to follow Kingston's lecture. The event is free and open to the public.

"Footsteps of Walker Evans," a trolley tour, will take place Saturday, Sept. 27.

Rowell is coordinating the trolley tour and Kingston will provide commentary during the tour, which will visit the sites Evans captured.

"We're going to do whatever we can to make it interesting and fun for area-residents or whoever wants to come along," Rowell said.

Evans' prints will be on display throughout September. Timezones Global Goodies and Framing Gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.