During the month of October, Camden Public Library is hosting a historical photo exhibit in the Picker Room titled, "Knox County Camera Club Revisited: Historical Photos by John Felton." The photo exhibit will run from October 1 through the 31st with an opening reception Saturday, Oct. 25, from 2 - 4 p.m.  

The Knox County Camera Club was active from the 1930s to 1978. They hosted annual photoexhibitions at the Farnsworth and members participated in juried shows throughout Maine and Massachusetts.

"Perhaps the most famous member of the Camera Club was Carroll Thayer Berry, widely known woodblock print artist and accomplished photographer," said a news releaes.

The Club alternated biweekly meetings between the Farnsworth Museum and Berry’s private studio in Rockport. 

John Felton was the second generation owner of the J.S. Felton Store at the corner of Washington and Sand Street, with his wife, Maude Ingraham Felton. Many younger people remember the store after it was sold in the late 1960s, renamed the Lady Millville, and converted from local grocery to pizza take-out and video store. 

Felton was a 40+ year member of the Knox County Camera Club, President of the Camden YMCA’s Camera Club, Camden Selectman, Rotary member, a Mason, and University of Maine alumnus. He had a strong business sense and keen interest in history, literature and art. He was proud to be a member of the Camden community, long known for being great supporters of education and the arts. He enjoyed the town’s many cultural offerings, like a quality public library and the annual Shakespearein the Park, held in the Library Amphitheater.

"Felton would be proud to know that his great granddaughter is affectionately known as 'Miss Amy' Hand, the CPL’s beloved childrens' librarian," said the release.

In the tradition of area photographers of the time, like Carroll Thayer Berry and Kosti Ruohomaa, Felton’s images captured local people, day to day life, and scenery in and around Camden, Rockport, and Midcoast Maine. 

In 2019, the Felton family loaned the negatives of the Felton Photo Collection to the Walsh History Center.The Walsh Center digitized close to a hundred of his 40+ year collection to date.  

John Felton’s granddaughter, Mary Kay Felton, organized the exhibition as an opportunity for people to see Camera Club exhibition photos not seen in the last fifty to eighty+ years and to make the public aware of the Felton Collection in Camden Public Library’s Walsh History Center. Felton hopes residents with a long history in Camden or Rockport can help identify people featured in the collection of seventeen 16 x 20 black and white photos. An additional seven photos capture images of Camera Club members in Berry’s studio, at shows, and on outings. Many of the members have been identified, but Felton hopes exhibit goers can identify the remaining Camera Club members.

If you’re able to identify the subject of any photo, Felton encourages you to write the photo number, the name of the person you can identify, and your name and contact information on a slip of paper and drop it in the container provided in the Picker room this October.

For more information about the exhibit, contact Mary Kay Felton at feltonmk@gmail.com.