The Baker Barber Collection
/I recently found myself happily meandering through the many twists and turns of a historical rabbit hole reaching back over 140 years. My carefully curated to-do list was pushed aside and I spent several hours transfixed as I searched through the Henderson County Public Library’s absorbing Baker Barber Collection of over 65,000 photographs dating as far back as the 1880s.
Family Portrait, Unidentified
This astounding collection of photos emanated from Hendersonville’s Baker Barber Studios that chronicled the history of Henderson County from 1884 until the mid-1990s. Through several generations, this family business recorded the growth around Henderson County with photos of businesses, transportation, recreation, tourism, family life, and a myriad of daily events over the course of a century.
Included in the collection are over 100 photos associated with the history of Flat Rock, providing an intriguing - and frequently mystery-laden -peek into the past of the village.
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Arthur Farrington Baker
The story of this treasure trove of photos that document the history of Henderson County and western North Carolina begins with an English immigrant named Arthur Farrington Baker. His story, and the full story of the Baker Barber Collection, was captured in an exhibition at the Henderson County Heritage Museum in the old courthouse in downtown Hendersonville.
Although no longer on display, the exhibit - put together through a collaborative effort by the Community Foundation of Henderson County, the Henderson County Public Library, the Henderson County Heritage Museum and the Henderson County Genealogical & Historical Society, Inc. - documented the fascinating history of the studio and resulting trove of photos.
Much of the following information is taken directly from the images and text of that exhibit. The exhibit itself drew extensively from a book written by noted local historian, Louise Howe Bailey in collaboration with Jody Barber entitled Hendersonville and Henderson County: A Pictorial History. Jody Barber’s father was an early employee of Arthur Baker’s and Jody eventually became conservator of decades worth of photos accumulated by the business.
(Photos courtesy of Baker-Barber Collection, Community Foundation of Henderson County; Henderson County Public Library)
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Arthur Farrington Baker
From the Baker Barber Studios Exhibit; Henderson County Heritage Museum:
Arthur Farrington Baker, 1857 to 1936, was born and raised in England. As a young man, Baker became the apprentice to the world-renowned photographer Alexander (Alessandro) Bassano.
Bassano was an expert in photographic portraiture who produced numerous portraits of Queen Victoria, some of which became the template for famous paintings of the Queen.
The Baker Brothers
In 1880, Baker and his brothers immigrated to America. The brothers initially traveled in the South as musical instrument sellers and music teachers.
Arthur then opened photographic studios in Chester and Rock Hill, South Carolina. Baker was captivated by western North Carolina and eventually settled in Hendersonville. In 1884, he opened the area's first photography studio, Baker's London Art Gallery.
In the beginning, Baker only operated his gallery and studio during the summer months. However, the popularity of the Hendersonville Gallery prompted Baker to open the gallery year-round.
On May 1, 1884, baker's London Art Gallery opened its doors for business on the second floor of the M. M. Shepherd Building on the southeast corner of Main and Chestnut. (Now First Avenue)
Arthur Baker’s studio would continue long after his death in 1936 and operations carried on under the guidance of the Barber family. During the long history of the studio, it is estimated that the business amassed a collection of prints and negatives numbered at approximately one million images.
Sadly, a fire at the business in 1967 destroyed or heavily damaged most of the collection. Still, over 65,000 images were saved or salvageable and they were ultimately passed on to The Community Foundation of Henderson County through a generous grant from Jody Barber whose father, Armitage (Farry) Farrington Barber, Sr., began working with Arthur Baker as a teenager at the turn of the 20th century. Farry Barber’s mother was a cousin of Arthur Baker and Farry would eventually assume ownership of the business when Baker retired.
Armitage (Farry) Farrington Barber, Sr.
Farry Barber was born in Blackville, South Carolina, and moved with his family to Hendersonville.
At the turn of the century. He got his first job with photographer A. F. Baker. When he was in his teens, Barber reminisced, “I was a stockholder. I held the horses for people who drove in from Flat Rock, swept the floors, got the mail and did odd jobs.”
Barber spent many hours learning photography on a 1902 Graflex camera with a high-speed, focal plane shutter. He never used a light meter. He knew instinctively how long to hold the shutter open. There were no daytime dark rooms in those days, and pictures had to be shot to size because there was no enlargement equipment.
Barber shot thousands of pictures in his days of babies, families, weddings, funerals parties, fires, sports and other local events.
Baker Barber Studios Exhibit
Henderson County Heritage Museum
Farry Barber, in turn, had three sons - Jody, Don, and Unk - who returned from military service after World War II to carry on in the family business.
Jody, Don, Unk, and Farry Barber
Jody Barber told, “There is strength in unity, and it gave us a wonderful feeling to own and operate our own separate businesses side by side.” The oldest son, Unk, operated the town office supply. Don Barber ran the photography studio, eventually changing the name from Baker's Art Gallery to Barber's Studio. And Jody Barber operated Barber’s Camera and Card Shop.
from the Baker Barber Studios Exhibit
Henderson County Heritage Museum
Late in life, Jody Barber wrote about the amazing collection of photos curated by first Baker and then the Barber family:
"For over a hundred years, and now into the fifth generation, my family has been in the photographic business in Hendersonville," Barber wrote. "We have continuously taken pictures of our town, its people, its places and its events. Perhaps unknowingly at first, with every negative that was made and every print that was finished, local history was being recorded."
In 1993, Jody Barber gifted the collection to the Community Foundation of Henderson County which then turned the collection over the the Public Library for further cataloging and safekeeping. The Community Foundation established a fund to support the collection. Read more about the fund here.
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Today, the Baker Barber Collection is available to view online at the Public Library pages of the Henderson County Government website. (Link Here)
Baker Barber Collection Webpage
Mark Burdette, Reference/Special Collections Librarian, oversees the collection and according to Mark the collection, given its immense size, is still a work in process. “In late 2022, I changed my priority from preservation to public accessibility with the aim of making more images available to the public. I have been cataloging and adding approximately 100 new images each month to the Baker-Barber website so the public is encouraged to check back often and see what new treasures might be uncovered.”
On the website, visitors are able to see pre-sorted collections or search keywords to pull up relevant images. For purposes of this article, as an example, I searched for “Flat Rock” and the website returned 110 results - a few of which have been included in this article as a representation of the type of images you might find. (Scroll down to see sample images.)
Today, the collection available online continues to grow and the public is invited to help refine and identify the images. “There are still images for which we don’t have complete data,” explains Mark. “If the public recognizes anything specific about an image that is missing such as a date or location or person’s name, I would ask them to contact me with the alphanumeric photo ID and the missing information and I can look at adding it to the record.”
Persons with information or questions can contact Mark via email at mburdette@hendersoncountync.gov.
Sample Images from the Collection
The images that follow were provided by Mark Burdette from the Baker Barber Collection with the permission of The Community Foundation of Henderson County.
To search the full catalog of available images link to the website here, click on “Search the Collection.” You will be given several default search options or can use any description - names, places, topics, etc - in the search bar at the top of the page.
A search of “Flat Rock” returns 110 images. Link to those images here. A few of those images and their current descriptions follow:
Flat Rock Images
The History of the Baker Barber Studios
(Information from Baker Barber Collection Exhibit at the Henderson County Heritage Museum. Text adapted from Hendersonville and Henderson County a Pictorial History written by Jody Barber and Louise Howe Bailey, Norfolk, Virginia Donning, 1988.)
Baker's London Art Gallery (First Location)
On May 1, 1884, Baker's London Art Gallery opened its doors for business on the second floor of the M. M. Shepherd Building on the southeast corner of Main and Chestnut. (Now First Avenue)
A large skylight was installed in the north roof to provide light for taking portraits. The camera room was like a stage. Elaborate scenes for the background were painted on canvas and suspended from the ceiling.
The scenes could be changed easily by rolling one up and rolling another down in its place. The film used then was known as dry plates with a light-sensitive emulsion on glass, making a glass negative.
Dozens of pictures were displayed under a shed along the side of the Shepherd Building. This display was a popular gathering place and a pictorial source of current events.
Baker's Art Gallery (2nd Location)
As the town grew and the needs of the studio grew, Baker built a new two-story brick building on the corner of Main and Academy, now Fourth Avenue before the turn of the century.
The main floor had sales and display space in the front, a large camera room in the center and dark rooms in the rear of the building. A diffused glass skylight was on the north side of the camera room.
The second floor provided a spacious home for the family. Pictures of that building show a windmill mounted on the roof, which pumped a bountiful and dependable supply of pure well water for the dark rooms.
The Fourth and Main building was sold to First Bank and Trust Company, which went under during the Great Depression but reopened as the State Trust company.
Baker’s Art Gallery (3rd location)
New buildings near the studio at Main Street and Fourth Avenue threatened to block the light from the camera room. Skylight land was purchased at the corner of Main Street and Shaws Creek Road (now 6th Avenue) and a three story brick building was completed in 1910.
Over half of the main floor was a camera room with a skylight that was 12ft wide and so tall that it extended into the second floor. Dark rooms and finishing rooms were located at the rear of the second floor.
The remainder of the second floor and the third floor were used as living space for the family.
Barber Studios
The original studio name was eventually changed to Barber’s Studio.
The interior of Barber's Camera Shop. A.F. Barber, Sr. can be seen standing behind the counter on the far right.
Fire Damages the Collection
Tragedy struck on April 9th, 1967 when a fire started in the basement near the furnace. The blaze ruined the interior of the building. It was estimated that more than 1 million negatives of rare historical value were damaged.
Many of these negatives were the only photographic records of past events in existence, possibly the most extensive collection in the area.
Preserving the Collection
First Federal Savings Bank acquired the Baker Barber Building at the corner of Main Street and 6th Avenue in 1986, along with the Carolina Theater Building, so that it could build a new main office.
Realizing the value of the photograph collection to the community, they sponsored the book Hendersonville and Henderson County a Pictorial History by Jody Barber and Louise Bailey. They also provided space in their new building for Jody Barber to work on organizing and identifying the images in the collection.
Jody worked for several years as his health allowed. However, it proved to be a herculean task. In 1993, Jody Barber donated the collection to the Community Foundation of Henderson County. Realizing they didn't have the space or the expertise to maintain the collection, the Community Foundation made arrangements with Henderson County Public Library to house and maintain the collection.
There are approximately 65,000 images in the collection. They are stored in archival boxes in a climate controlled environment. To make the images accessible, negatives are scanned at high resolution and indexed with existing notes
Conclusion
As is so often the case with historical images, there is a wealth of information to be gleaned from the photos -combined with more than just a little mystery. Even when the photos are identified as to time and place, there are thousands of faces in this collection that remain anonymous and are lost to the vagaries of time.
If you spend a few moments (hours, days?) searching through the Baker Barber Collection, you will undoubtedly find that there is something both magical and haunting about peering back in time. It is engrossing to look at the faces of our predecessors - for some of us, ancestors - and wonder about the fullness of their lives. The photographic plates and early films captured but an instant of lives full of happiness and tragedy, accomplishment and failure, love and loss.
Ultimately, it is difficult to look at the many photos in the Baker Barber Collection without wondering about , as Paul Harvey used to say, "the rest of the story.”
Acknowledgements and Sources:
McCray Benson; Community Foundation of Henderson County
Mark Burdette, Henderson County Public Library
Henderson County Heritage Museum, https://hendersoncountymuseum.com/the-baker-barber-studios
Hendersonville and Henderson County: A Pictorial History by Jody Barber and Louise Howe Bailey. (Link)
Blue Ridge Now, Caretaker of Area’s Pictorial History Dies
Henderson County Genealogical & Historical Society: Baker Barber Photo Collection, Facebook Page
