Page 145 - Demo

143Afterword few days after finishing the photography phase of The Common Good, I totaled up the mileage we%u2019d entered in the small log we keep in our car. It added up to about 14,000 miles%u2014all from day trips. When I combined that figure with the mileage we covered in creating our six earlier photography books, I realized Lynn and I had journeyed an astounding 90,000 miles all across our Hoosier state. But, that%u2019s just one of the impressive statistics we%u2019ve racked up since starting Studio Indiana. For just this current book project, we visited approximately 500 locations, which is about average for most of the books we%u2019ve published. That%u2019s a lot%u2014especially in a state often dismissed as consisting of mostly cornfields. Yes, we know there are tens of thousands of acres of farmland. But there%u2019s much more, if you simply take the time to look.To locate subjects, we often seek leads from individuals who have knowledge of special buildings in their locales; county historians; and librarians, in both small burgs and big cities. We also do some of our own library research. However, for us, our favorite discoveries are those we just happen across while going from here to there. Unplanned and irresistible, they serendipitously present themselves, and we thank them by taking their portraits.Perhaps the saddest statistic for us is the number of places we%u2019ve photographed that no longer exist. Lynn and I have estimated that 20 to 25 percent of the buildings and objects in our first photography book, Lingering Spirit (released in 2003), are now only memories. It%u2019s getting to be a regular occurrence for one of us to say, %u201cDidn%u2019t there used to be a house (or barn, or fire truck, or store, or church, or school) over there?%u201d Each time one of these old friends disappears, we%u2019re reminded of how important our work is. Perhaps our photos will be the only visual record of some of these places%u2014the only tangible proof they ever existed. For schools in particular, the number that existed in the past is impressive. Between 1852 and 1857, over 2,700 Indiana schoolhouses were built. By 1875, there were 9,307, which averaged out to over 100 per county. Then, when the first consolidations took place in the late 1800s, half the one-room schools in the state were closed. While a handful continued in operation until the 1950s, those, too, were eventually shut down in favor of larger, centralized facilities. Of course, Hoosier high schools have had a similar fate, with over 600 secondary-school districts now defunct. The result is that, today, the majority of Indiana%u2019s early schoolhouses are gone. Of those remaining, some are meticulously cared for, but many are succumbing to time and the elements. For years, we used to drive by the crumbling remains of a red-brick, one-room school (next page) every few months. With its 2x4 wood bracing, it was obvious that someone%u2014someone who cared%u2014was hoping to save what little was left. Yet each time we passed it, a few more loose bricks had fallen to the ground. Would it%u2014could it%u2014be resurrected, we wondered? It%u2019d be a major project, but maybe%u2026 Then, it was gone, and A