Mill Life Remembered

A beautiful, thought-provoking exhibit of 80 photographs from local photographer Richard Snodgrass, AfterImage: Mill Life Remembered is featured at the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center through March 26th. Mill towns along the Ohio and Beaver rivers serve as the primary backdrop for the photographs, taken by Snodgrass in the fall of 1977. The images highlight the communities surrounding the mills, including the homes, clothing, religious icons and everyday items, and are interpreted using Snodgrass’ writings on life in the steel region north of Pittsburgh.

The AfterImage exhibit complements other steel legacy exhibits at the History Center, including Points in Time: Building a Life in Western Pennsylvania, 1750 – Today, which chronicles the story of the steel industry and its workers in Western Pennsylvania and includes a replicated steelworker’s home from Homestead in 1910, mill photos, artifacts and videos as well as a portion of the Duquesne Works locker room. The museum’s Special Collections gallery features artifacts from the U.S. Steel collection, including a blast furnace sculpture and a variety of tools and safety equipment used at the Duquesne Works.

If you can't make it to the History Center in person (though I highly recommend it!), you can also view the mill photographs and interpretive writings of Richard Snodgrass online.