A Midsummer Night’s Recurring Dream

Everyday walking into the Archives and Special Collections, I have walked by a bevy of black and white images in black frames along the walls. Of all of these photos, I one has caught my eye. It is a picture of three girls looking into a mirror putting make up on; there is some quality of mirrors in photos that has always entranced me. Maybe it is seeing the backside as well of the front side of the subject just makes my eyes and brain happy. It is also just the magic of the quality between the image on the mirror and the image not reflecting. Pure magic. I have looked at this photo countless times on my way in and out of the archives. I had not thought much of the photo till I was in the thirty first volume of The Volante searching for the then unidentified William H. Danforth, the man who funded Danforth Chapel on campus. I was stumbling through the pages and just saw a flash of this image and stopped dead in my tracks. It’s the image! And fully identified! A cataloger’s dream! The two main girls left and middle are “Drama students Lean Authier (left), of Chamberlain, and Janice Hildrebrand, Sturgis, add the final touches of make up before appearing on stage at a recent one-act play festival held two weeks ago.” This unforeseen full identification while in pursuit of a different image entirely makes me think that being aware of the information in front of me even when not directly looking for something is important. Upon further delving into the resources I am blessed with in the Archives and Special Collections, on the cover of The University of South Dakota Photograph Collection: Preserving Our Past In Images, 1930-1999, curated by Sarah A. Hanson, is the same image of these two girls getting ready for the play, this image is everywhere! It seems Sarah and I have a similar eye for photography! You never know what you will find around the archives and in the 1950’s.
Happy identifying,
Sophia