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Exhibit on pioneering journalist coming to northern Michigan

Posted at 5:24 AM, Sep 03, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-03 05:24:55-04

CALUMET, Mich. (AP) — A traveling exhibit featuring the work of a late 19th century photojournalist who chronicled squalid conditions in New York City’s immigrant communities is coming to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The exhibit called “Jacob A. Riis: How the Other Half Lives” opens Tuesday at The Keweenaw National Historical Park’s Calumet Visitor Center. It features photographs, journals, and personal correspondence of Riis (REES), a Danish immigrant who sought to illustrate and publicize societal problems he encountered as a reporter.

The exhibit combines for the first time papers the Riis family gave to the Library of Congress with his photographs from the Museum of the City of New York’s collection.

The exhibit, part of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ “On the Road” program, runs through Oct. 19.