Early in its existence the Dexter Historical Society received a donation of negatives and photos from Bert Lincoln Call who was the local photographer from 1886 until the late 1940s. Call's stock-in-trade was portraiture of local citizens, but his passion was for the woods, lakes, and rivers of northern Maine, which he visited annually. Call's images comprise a photographic record of the North Woods. Through these photos we have visual documentation and an artist's observation of the way the Maine Woods looked only thirty-five years after Henry David Thoreau visited and wrote about his travels in the Maine woods. The public has not seen a large part of this extraordinary record, which Call began 120 years ago.

Printer Todd Watts of Blanchard, Maine has produced 22" x 30" prints from Call's negatives. He is an internationally recognized photographer and respected photographic printer. He has had his own photographic work exhibited in America in more than a dozen states, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Princeton University, Yale University, and The Ansel Adams Center for Photography in San Francisco. Internationally his work has been on exhibit in galleries in, Paris, Vienna, Oslo, Sweden, Australia, and Canada. Watt's portfolios have been published by Parasol Press Ltd. for over 30 years. Among other projects, he printed and produced all of Berenice Abbott's photographs, including nine limited edition portfolios from 1974 until her death.

Funding by The Quimby Family Foundation has helped to produce this world class traveling art exhibition of Call's work that will be exhibited at historical societies, fine art venues, galleries, and educational institutions throughout Maine and New England. Each print will have an accompanying Thoreau quote from his book, "The Maine Woods." A web site is being developed and a CD will be provided at each venue. Recently Call's photographs were used by Dave Mallett to illustrate his latest CD, "The Fable True; The words of Henry David Thoreau's, "The Maine Woods" set to music.

Dexter's Abbott Museum will be open from 10 AM to 4 PM each Sat. in May and open daily beginning June 1st.