Nichols exhibit opens at Grand Encampment

On June 25 and 26, The Grand Encampment Museum (GEM) hosted author Nicole Jean Hill, Professor of Art at Humboldt State University in California.

Hill was present not only to present her book on photography from the Lora Webb Nichols Collection, but to also help kick off the museum's newest exhibit. The new exhibit is all about Lora Webb Nichols.

The exhibit has pictures, cameras, clothes and other mementos of Nichols life. The exhibit opening stretched out for two days and was well attended.

The author titled her book of 150 photographs by Nichols "Encampment, Wyoming". It features selections from the Lora Webb Nichols Archive ranging from 1899 to 1948. Hill selected from over 24,000 photographs to give her work the possible representation of what life was life for Nichols as seen through a camera lens.

Hill became interested in Nichols' work in the summer in 2012 when she was staying at an artist camp sponsored by Brush Creek Ranch. She made her way to GEM and found out about Nichols. On that trip she had no time to see anything from Nichols.

She made up her mind to look at the archive and got in contact with Carbon County historian and resident Nancy Anderson after Hill had read Anderson's book on Nichols titled "Homesteader's Daughter, Miner's Bride", published in 1995.

Hill found out the archive was scanned and to see a photograph, it took approximately 90 seconds.

"Twenty four thousand pictures taking 90 seconds a piece is a major undertaking and truthfully almost impossible to fathom," Hill said. "So back in 2013, I started working with Nancy to see how it can be switched to a hard drive and then back it up. That took almost two years. I also had help from my students."

Hill said she finally got to look at the pictures in 2015. Then she started a website.

"The website isn't supposed to be everything," Hill said. "It acts as an entry point to understanding her collection."

Nichols was a proprietor of a photofinishing business in Encampment and took photographs professionally for businesses and ranches in early 1900s. The archive of pictures from Nichols also includes pictures from other photographers. Nichols would turn these negatives from other people into postcards. Nichols paid twenty-five cents for the negatives, so she did get permission from the original photographers. Hill noted 30 percent of the pictures in Nichols collection were from others.

Nichols left Encampment in 1935 and moved to California. She came back to Wyoming in 1953. Hill did not use many pictures from this time period in her book.

"I wanted to give people who looked at the pictures a continuity of a place and I made it Encampment," Hill said. "That is why the book ultimately is titled Encampment, Wyoming."

The book was published in January of this year. It has proven so successful, especially in some overseas markets, the book went into a second printing.

"This almost never happens with books like mine," Hill said. "It has been remarkable."

Hill said it was not easy getting published. Academic publishing houses all showed little interest. They told Hill her book would not be profitable.

"It was rejection letter, after rejection letter," Hill said. "Then just as the pandemic shut down California, I found out I got funding from the Wyoming Community Foundation to help with the publishing of the book. So from March 2020 to July, I basically got the book done. January 2021 it got published in Amsterdam.

Europe loves the West according to Hill. Publisher Hans Gremmen took on the project because he is one those fans of the West and its culture. The printed book came into Hill's hands in February.

Then something remarkable happened that every author dreams about.

"The photographer Alex Soth did a Youtube review on it," Hill said. "He has a huge following and within two weeks the book was sold out. The French media also picked it up and that helped sales I suspect. So then I had no books to do any signings for my show."

Hill recently just got the second printed books and had them available at the exhibition at GEM.

The exhibit was unveiled featuring Hill's photography show on Nichols that she is taking around the country. The crowd at the opening of the exhibit got a strong dose of the work and life of the Encampment female photographer by the exhibit and show.

After Hill gave her presentation, she took questions. A person asked how the pictures were originally scanned.

Anderson, who was in the audience told the crowd she and her husband Victor did most of the scanning.

Then she told a story that showed how close the collection of Nichols almost didn't happen. Anderson said while she was teaching in Hanna, there was a gentleman who taught at the school named Gene Tucker who was well acquainted with the most recent technology for scanning picture to DVD's. By chance, Anderson said they met in the school's hallway and Tucker said he could help when she told him of the vast project before her.

"Without Gene's help, I don't think the scanning would have ever happened," Anderson said. "Most of the pictures would have probably stayed in envelopes."

Fortunately for Nichols admirers, the pictures did get scanned.

The release of Hill's book "Encampment, Wyoming" proves Nichols' work, is not only ready to be seen, but to be enjoyed by the world.