Pioneer photographer Fred W. Farrar chronicled the Black Hills from the turn of the 20th century through the 1930s. An exhibit that opened in July at the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center consists of 30 of 39 pieces displayed in the 1980s in a collection organized by the late Dr. Allen Shepherd, a former CSC History Professor, and the late Mary Farrar, daughter of Farrar.
Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday 10 a.m.-noon and 1 p.m.-4 p.m. and Friday 10 a.m.-noon. The exhibit will be open until Dec. 15.
Farrar leaves a legacy of images of life in the Black Hills around the turn of the century. He took photos of people, parties, babies, weddings, and scenery. His photos include parades, fairs, the circus, and the largest Rapid City event of the year from 1898 to 1910, Stockmen’s Days.
According to Shepherd and Mary Farrar, current generations owe a considerable debt to roving photographers like Farrar. With a mobile dark room, camera, and glass plate negatives, they ventured into the wilderness, photographed a cross-section of his era, and often received little remuneration.
Farrar, along with others, provided an invaluable service by capturing images of space and time which no conventional historian could. Part professional and part amateur, part artist and part historian, part user of glass plates and the new film negatives. His portraits range from local historical figures to unidentified residents. Some of the most powerful images are unknown subjects and many capture the essence of the era and the human experience, both joyful and tragic, according to Shepherd and Mary Farrar.
Farrar was born in 1885 in Iowa and came to Rapid City with his family when he was two. In addition to photography, he enjoyed the outdoors, hunting, horses, music, and gunsmithing. He attended Rapid City High School and the South Dakota School of Mines. He died in 1975 at the age of 90 in Chadron and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Rapid City.
He had five sons, and one daughter, Mary, who preserved the collection for many years, who died in 2015. Farrar’s granddaughter, Dede Farrar, inherited the collection of more than 2,500 negatives, photographs, and ephemera and donated it to the Minnilusa Historical Association and Pioneer Collection at The Journey Museum in Rapid City in 2017. http://www.journeymuseum.org.