(Cherry Hill, N.J.) – Nationally renowned photographer Carol M. Highsmith visited Cherry Hill in late June to photograph the Township as part of a decades-long project to capture images of 21st-century American life for the United States Library of Congress. Cherry Hill is the first New Jersey municipality to be photographed for the series.
Highsmith has traveled the country photographing the landscape, people, buildings and culture of cities and states across the United States since 1992. She donates all of her work, rights-free, to the Library of Congress, for the use and enjoyment of the American public. Her goal is to photograph each of the 50 states, and ultimately donate 100,000 photos to the Library’s archives. Today, the Carol M. Highsmith Collection is among the top six collections out of 15 million images in the Library’s Prints and Photographs archive.
Her visit on Monday, June 29, was her second visit to the municipality, during which she traveled to more than two dozen of the Township’s most iconic local landmarks, places and historic sites, including Barclay Farmstead, Croft Farm, the Cherry Hill Public Library and Cherry Hill Mall.
“I’ve taken pictures of people and places all across America, and I have been truly impressed by what I’ve found in Cherry Hill,” Highsmith said. “Cherry Hill has grown into this big, bustling suburb; but at the same time, there is a treasure trove of land and history here that has been beautifully maintained and preserved. It’s an incredible place to visit and a true gift to those who live here.”
Highsmith’s visit also included a meeting with Mayor Chuck Cahn, who welcomed her to the historic Barclay Farmstead.
“The Carol M. Highsmith Archive is a very special national resource, and I am delighted that Carol has chosen to visit Cherry Hill as part of her work here in New Jersey,” Mayor Cahn said. “Cherry Hill is such a diverse, vibrant and historically rich community, and we have dedicated so much time to preserving our neighborhoods, historic properties and open space – the things that make our community so special and unique. To have an artist as talented and dynamic as Carol come into town and help us preserve these places in such a lasting and permanent way is truly an honor.”
A handful of Highsmith’s images can currently be seen throughout the Township website at www.CherryHill-NJ.com, and more will be added later this summer.
For more information to view Highsmith’s portfolio of work, visit her website at http://www.CarolHighsmithAmerica.com. To learn about the Carol M. Highsmith Archive at the Library of Congress, visit http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/highsm/.