Metro Pulse/Artbeat/Looking in a Rearview Mirror

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What:
Looking In A Rearview Mirror

Where:
The Lawson McGhee Library, 500 West Church Avenue

When:
Through Sept. 30, with a lecture series on Sunday afternoons at the East Tennessee Historical Center Auditorium�Sept. 16, 23, and 30 at 2 p.m. Call 215-8700 for hours and information

Looking In A Rearview Mirror

by Heather Joyner

Historic photographs of Knoxville sometimes make me wonder if I'm in the right place at the wrong time. Although it's admittedly naive to idealize a bygone era—one lacking privileges we now take for granted like civil rights, modern plumbing, and gourmet coffee—I can't help but yearn for aspects of the Knoxville I see in old pictures; for what was or might have been. Bustling with a relatively diverse population and studded with sturdy and noble buildings, our city in decades following the turn of the century seemed pretty lively.

Ironically, what's celebrated in a current show of historical photographs at the downtown library played quite a role in bringing about an end to those distinctive times. Changes resulting when automobiles and other vehicles began rolling into East Tennessee reflected a worldwide, seismic shift in attitude, and folks in this region were no less thrilled than their Tuscan hillbilly counterparts about spending hours rather than days getting from one place to another. Getting from a present-day mindset into one in tune with the past, however, is a shift of a different sort.

It's elementary: photography allows us to see what we'd otherwise not see. Furthermore, by presenting us with someone else's choices in terms of what is captured on film (and when), photography challenges our perceptions and forces us to question the truth of what we're looking at. When what we're looking at is familiar within an unfamiliar context—or vice versa—it's all the more jarring. Sorta like seeing your father in a ball gown rather than a ball cap. For instance, one image in the library's exhibit features a triangular Gulf station where Lyons View Pike forks off of Kingston Pike, but it's nothing like what we speed past today. No longer serving the same purpose, the building no longer perches within a semi-bucolic landscape, and it no longer posts signs for gas costing pennies a gallon. You get the picture.

Lawson McGhee's exhibition space, albeit small, is centrally located and much frequented [Editor's Note: Ms. Joyner has plenty of opportunity to observe the space—she works at the library]. Its "democratic vibe" seems appropriate for history-related photography. Sure, the lighting could be better and could illuminate less homespun fare from time to time. But at the very least, this month's show and lectures remind us that there's more to our civic identity than football. There is Knoxville's complex and buzzing past, revealed in an abundance of reproduced prints from the McClung Historical Archives' Thompson Photo Collection. And there are knowledgeable people among us whose enthusiasm brings that past—and how it was impacted by automotive developments—to life. Related lectures (beginning with UT's Dr. Bruce Wheeler last week) are titled "From Thunder Road To NASCAR" and will continue in the Historical Society's auditorium at 2 p.m. on Sundays throughout September. Dr. Daniel Pierce of UNC Asheville will speak on the 16th, followed by Edward Francisco, Head of Creative Writing and English at Pellissippi State, and Metro Pulse's Jack Neely on the 23rd and 30th, respectively.

Given that displayed photographs were assembled on short notice by reference librarians Nelda Hill and Betty Keel (with assistance from the McClung special materials librarian Sally Polhemus and yours truly), the library show is limited. Many questions concerning dates and precise location remain, but the pictures afford us an intriguing glimpse of what our archives have to offer. Perhaps guest book comments will provide some missing information.

Accompanying photographs are other items of interest, such as magazine ads from the '20's and '30's, postcards, tourist guides, and the piéce de resistance: an old but gleaming gas pump on loan from the ETHS Museum's East Tennesseans exhibit. The subject matter is divided into rough categories including area service stations, tourists in the Smokies, different models of trucks and cars (including some produced right here by the Drake Company), and scenes of everyday urban life. A shot of a Cities Service station with a lighthouse tower and an oddly undulating fa�ade reminiscent of Spanish architect Antoni GaudÍ is juxtaposed with that of a funky Gulf station sporting projecting beams that look decidedly Chinese. A Saturday Evening Post cartoon by Gluyas Williams features a cluster of chubby Michelin angels hovering above a man with a flat tire whereas "Mack the Cleaner" is shown ambling capably along a Knoxville street in a small truck that reads, "We Live to Dye and Dye to Live." One stylish woman can be seen driving a Tripure Water truck, and a visiting professional baseball team poses on a lawn with prominent Shriners. An American Red Cross vehicle with a circa WWI banner declaring "This Car Going To France" sits before the old Journal-Tribune Building on Gay Street.

So, there you have it: a small window to the past. It's a different world, yet it's our world. And that's a fascinating contradiction.