The Power of Place: Hamlin Garland and Mitchell County, Iowa
October 28, 2004-January 16, 2005 Preus Library
Gallery reception Monday, November 1, 2004, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
Featuring Kurtis Meyer, Hamlin Garland expert, and Jon Morris, photographer
Kurtis Meyer has teamed with photographer Jon Morris to create a photographic essay on Hamlin Garland’s
Mitchell County, Iowa. Garland was a well-known writer whose most enduring subject was the settlement of
the Midwest, especially Iowa and Wisconsin, where he grew up in the 1870s. Garland’s books include A
Son of the Middle Border (1923) and Boy Life on the Prairie (1926).
Meyer and Morris will speak in an art
and an English class on campus. They will also be guests of honor at a public gallery reception featuring
their photography exhibit.
Snowdrifts
Meyer is a businessman, not a professional literary scholar. However, he is an
avid collector of Garland’s books and has presented his research and versions of his talk and accompanying
photographic essay by his collaborator, photographer Jon Morris, at a number of venues.
He has been the guest of several universities and presented at the American Literature Association
meeting in Cambridge, Mass., in the spring of 2003.
Seminary
Jon Morris, a commercial photographer, lives in Minneapolis.
In addition to his commercial work, he travels extensively creating fi ne art photography, primarily
black-and-white landscapes, scenics, and abstracts. His work has been widely exhibited and collected.
Morris says, “The Garland project has held particular interest for me since my family’s roots are based
in the similar landscape of southern Minnesota.”
