A gallery talk by Dexter Historical Society Curator Frank Spizuoco and James Eric Francis Sr., Tribal Historian for the Penobscot Nation, will take place in the Gallery at 12 noon, Friday, November 13. About the exhibit, James comments; "Through the lens of Bert Lincoln Call, and from the pen of Henry David Thoreau, we are able to transport ourselves to a landscape frozen in time. This landscape was a foreign one for Thoreau. His Penobscot Guides guided him through this physical landscape, but also through a cultural landscape. The marriage of Henry David Thoreau's word, Bert Call's photo, and the understanding of a Native American, 'Sense of Place', brings cohesiveness and a texture to the exhibit." James has been studying Penobscot history most of his life and is interested in the connection of Maine Native Americans to the landscape. He holds a degree in history from the University of Maine in Orono. He teaches Wabanaki History courses for the University of Southern Maine and Bates College.

Bert Call's images provide an extraordinary photographic record of Maine's north woods, often of specific places Thoreau described in his book. Call began this series 120 years ago; however, most of his work has remained unseen. Through Call's photos we have visual documentation of the way the Maine Woods looked only 35 years after Thoreau visited. In order to bring this collection to the public, Frank Spizuoco, exhibition curator, contacted photographer Todd Watts in 2007 with the idea of restoring Bert Call's original negatives and then producing the large-scale prints that comprise this exhibition. The exhibit's web site is www.callthoreauexhibit.com.

Todd Watts 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 and Yale University, and The Ansel Adams Center for Photography in San Francisco. His work has been on exhibit in galleries in Paris, Vienna, Oslo, Sweden, Australia, and Canada. For over 30 years Watt's portfolios have been published by Parasol Press Ltd. Among other projects; he printed and produced all of Berenice Abbott's photographs, including nine limited edition portfolios, from 1974 until her death in 1991.

Spizuoco's and Francis's gallery talk is presented at the request of the professors teaching USM's team-taught Entry Year Experience course "Thoreau: Nature, Society and Self." This course is part of USM's new Core Curriculum and was designed and is taught by Associate Professor of History Adam Tuchinsky, Associate Professor of Political Science Lynn Kuzma and Associate Professor of Biology Terry Theodose. The students' visual reflections inspired by the exhibit will be on display in the gallery. The talks are funded by the USM Department of History and Department of Political Science.