Hugo and Gayne Prellers' House of Light: Arkansas' Newest Cultural Treasure

By Chris A Engholm and Gayne Preller Schmidt

Welcome to a photographic odyssey that begins as we join a most unusual couple on a journey down the Mississippi River in a floating portrait studio. The incredible family story and professional work of Hugo and Gayne Preller spanned more than half a century, from 1895 to 1950. Hugo Preller's quest to document the untrammeled river Delta, combined with his wife's gift of putting people at ease before a lens, created a visual history that has earned its reputation as a true cultural treasure of Arkansas. A River Journey Begins Hugo Preller arrived in America on a ship from Germany in 1885. He was only 17 and spoke no English, yet within a few years he became a circuit rider, photographer, and watchmaker. At 25, he married a merchant's daughter in Kentucky---Gayne Laura Avey, a precocious girl of 16. Together they built a houseboat, replete with a repair shop and photographic studio. Their "floating gallery" could be seen docked at river towns for weeks at a time as Hugo repaired guns and clocks, and the couple made studio portraits of local people onboard the boat. By 1900, they sailed up the pristine White River and settled in Augusta, Arkansas where they purchased a House of Doors from the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Hugo's watch and gun repair shop was on one side of the house while Gayne's variety store and studio were on the other. The shop was a community landmark for the next 50 years. The Preller's granddaughter, Gayne Schmidt, later safeguarded the couple's pictures, artwork, and family documents. When author and photographer Chris Engholm got wind of the "lost" Preller pictures, he visited Augusta during a canoe trip down the White River and sought out Ms. Schmidt. The two became friends and began working to preserve The Preller Collection, which has grown to over 2,400 images and objects, the largest and most diverse archive of vintage photographs from the Arkansas Delta, and now considered one of the most important in the entire Mississippi Delta. Equally exciting, Gayne Preller has emerged as the first female photographer working in the region."An amazing uncovering of history, not just Arkansas history, but the history of photography, of riverboat culture, and of race relations." --Allyn Lord, Director of the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History"The discovery of a previously unknown major body of photographic work is a very rare occurrance. But to bring to light two photographers whose images go back to the late 1800s---that is a one-of-a-kind discovery." --Turner Browne & Elaine Partnow, Editors of The Macmillan Biographical Encyclopedia of Photographic Artists & InnovatorsA Teaching Kit for educators is also available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1530854571
• ISBN13: 9781530854578
• Release Date: August 2016
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 138 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.3" x 7.5"