Cape Ann Museum Post Hopper
Above the Fold: The Photographers of the “Gloucester Daily Times,” 1973-2005
By: Charles Giuliano - Nov 22, 2023
The paper of record for Cape Ann is the Gloucester Daily Times. It is known affectionately by readers as GD Times. Like all print media it faces increasing cost with a shrinking staff and news room. It's challenging to make space for features including reviews and coverage of the arts.
There is some irony that the paper will cover an exhibition at the Cape Ann Museum in which it is the subject.
A vast trove of a million photographs from the newspaper's archives have been gifted to the museum. It is a monumental task for the museum's short staffed archivists to log the images into its system and make the material accessible. This work is ongoing.
A special exhibition is providing a pithy taste of its vast range and depth.
It's been a banner year for the museum. This summer’s blockbuster, “Edward Hopper & Cape Ann: Illuminating an American Landscape,” drew 36,538 visitors during its 12 weeks. An average annual attendance for the museum is some 25,000. With a month to go, but relatively slow post Hopper, the museum had 60,987 visitors.
This exhibition, with a December opening represents the anchor leg of Gloucester 400th Plus. It is fitting that the museum is ending a year of history by showing vintage Gloucester images to its community. No doubt that provides interest and promotes civic pride.
After Above the Fold folds on March 27 there is no information on the museum's website for future programming.
There is scuttlebutt that the museum will shut down in the fall for a year of expansion and renovation.
2025 will mark the 150th for the museum marked by another blockbuster exhibition. A project including Milton Avery, Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Rothko is being guest curated by Eliza Rathbone. Let's hope that the construction schedule, when announced, stays on track.
What follows is the museum's pr.
The Cape Ann Museum presents its next special exhibition, Above the Fold: The Photographers of the “Gloucester Daily Times,” 1973-2005, featuring a selection of works by photographers shooting for the Times for over three decades. The captivating photographs in this exhibition draw on an important archive of an estimated one million photographs which is a recent acquisition donated to CAM by the North of Boston Media Group.
Building on the success of the Museum’s exhibition featuring the work of long-time staff photographer Charlie Lowe in 2009, this new exhibition, Above the Fold, will focus on the newspaper’s next generation of staff photographers while highlighting Lowe’s legacy and influence. The exhibition shares the important role local journalism, and specifically photojournalism, plays in documenting community.
Through photographs and personal accounts of more than a dozen GDT photographers, Above the Fold reflects on over 25 years of people and stories in Cape Ann through the photography that has and continues to bring us together.
Image: Photographers on the coast, November 4th, 1991. Photograph by Cristin Gisler. Gloucester Daily Times Collection of the Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives, Gloucester, MA. Gift of The North of Boston Media Group, 2021
Associated Programs
First Fridays: Art After Hours
Friday, December 1 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm
CAMTalk: Exhibition Series -- Above the Fold: The Photographers of “The Gloucester Daily Times,” 1973-2005 Panel Discussion
Saturday, December 2 at 1:30 pm
Members’ Opening Reception -- Above the Fold: The Photographers of “The Gloucester Daily Times,” 1973-2005
Saturday, December 2 from 3:00 - 5:00 pm
CAMTalk: History Series -- Equity in the Archives: How History is Told
Tuesday, December 12 at 11:00 am
During the summer, the CAM Teen Council worked on an accompanying online exhibit called GDT Through a New Lens, which showcases selected photographs from the Gloucester Daily Times through the eyes of the Council. See the exhibit here.