A Photo of My Mother (and a History Lesson!)

In rummaging through letters and photos, I found this photo of my mother (Lula May Jeter) .  I'm not sure how old she is in the photo, there is no date on it.  I believe she was in her early twenties (she got married at the age of 24 on December 24th, 1939).  This is one of the very few professionally done photos of her so I became interested to see if I could find out anything about the photographer.  What I found was very much a surprise to me!

Edgar B. Smith was a commercial photographer in Wichita.  

"Edgar B. Smith may have done more than any one, single photographer to preserve a memory of the Wichita scene during the growth years of the 1920s to 1950s.
Smith learned his trade in the studio of Wichita photographer Homer T. Harden, who trained him as an apprentice during his high school years. At that same time, Smith enrolled in the first flying class taught by Clyde Cessna and was one of its three graduates in 1917.
 
After serving in World War I as a photographer for the Army Signal Corps, Smith eventually returned to Wichita, his hometown. He went into business with Maurice Hodge in 1924. According to a newspaper of the time, Smith-Hodge Photographers announced that they had opened up a new field of commercial photography. This new venture consisted of "making colored photographs of traveling men's samples… The customers are able to see the exact likeness of the article they purchase without the salesman being burdened with a number of large cumbersome grips… All the coloring is done by hand."

The partners worked together for a year or two, and then Hodge left Wichita for San Diego. At that point Smith combined his skills in photography and aviation to launch a long career as an independent commercial photographer. His photographs of thriving Wichita businesses are complemented by his aerial views of the downtown commercial area, the aviation factories, and the milling and refining district. This distinctive legacy earned Edgar B. Smith the reputation as "The Dean of Aviation Photography." (Source: http://www.wichitaphotos.org/exhibit/exhibit.asp) 

Mr. Smith was a prolific photographer.  You should search for Edgar B. Smith at the following web site: http://www.wichitaphotos.org/ .  You will be amazed at the breadth of his work.