Exhibit traces 70 years of local photography

Local family known for photography will be honored at Southeast Missouri State University's library.

From 1925 to 1975, the Lueders family name was synonymous with photography in Cape Girardeau. This Sunday an opening for the exhibit "A Lueders Perspective, 1925-1995: Seven Decades of Photography" at Southeast Missouri State University's Kent Library will highlight the historic people and places the Lueders captured on in images starting at 2 p.m.

The exhibit will feature 30 portraits of Southeast Missouri landmarks and personalities from the Paul R. and John L. Lueders Collection.

The Lueders Studio was established by Herbert Lueders in Cape Girardeau in 1925, later coming under the control of Paul Lueders and his brother John and becoming the premier portrait studio in the region in the mid-20th century.

The collection was donated to the university in 1994, and a grant has helped the school purchase supplies for the preservation of more than 75,000 prints and negatives from the collection and to partially fund the exhibit.

Dr. Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History at Southeast, John Lueders and local photographer Tom Neumeyer will be guest speakers for the opening, with a slide presentation of 40 additional images following.

The opening is free to the public. For more information, call 651-2245.