Black-and-White and Red (and Green) All Over

Neon Memes • "Once upon a time, not every cellphone incorporated a camera―and most if not all photographs appeared not in color but in black-and-white." In the fairy-tale haze of the moment, we perforce must rely on our historians, our archivists and our other guardians of the past for a discerning perspective on the present―and perhaps an informed view of the future. Luckily, two such guardians, Adele Heagney and Jean Gosebrink, serve at the St. Louis Public Library's stately HQ (1301 Olive Street, 314.241.2288). Late last year, the pair of long-time librarians authored a lovely 10-inch-square coffee-table book for Nashville's Turner Publishing Company: Historic Photos of St. Louis. And tomorrow―Saturday, December 20―from 1 to 4 p.m., they'll be signing copies of that hardcover, whose 200-plus pages feature 191 B&W interior images taken between 1852 and the late 1960s, at Neiman Marcus (100 Plaza Frontenac, 314.567.9811). I briefly wrote about Heagney and Gosebrink and their book for the August 2008 issue of St. Louis Magazine, and for local history buffs and photography fans alike, I can't recommend highly enough visiting Plaza Frontenac to chat with them―and to obtain a signed copy of Historic Photos of St. Louis just in time for...well...you know. ―Bryan A. Hollerbach, Managing Editor