The Baker Barber Studios

Shepherd’s Store with Photo Gallery above. Note Skylight in roof. “Bakers Art Gallery (1890s); Wooden building located across from Henderson County Courthouse on 100 Block east side. Stood for more than 120 years: Town's first store, first post office, infirmary for yellow fever patients, and photography studio. M. M. Shepherd Dry Goods beginning in 1929.”

The Baker Barber Studios chronicled the history of Western North Carolina from 1884 to the mid 1990s. They recorded much of the pictorial history of Henderson County.

Much more than just a collection of old photographs, the collection documents places and events, and records growth in and around Henderson County, including photographs of urbanization, transportation, recreation, tourism, family life, business, news, events, and many portraits of area residents.

The exhibit results from an extensive collaboration between the Community Foundation of Henderson County, the Henderson County Public Library, the Henderson County Heritage Museum and the Henderson County Genealogical & Historical Society, Inc.

The exhibit follows the studio’s location through the years, the three generations that operated the studio, the fire that destroyed many of the negatives and the current efforts to preserve and identify the remaining 75,000 images. It also features one of the cameras used by the studio and a unique baby seat that was used when photographing many babies during the last century.

Through a generous grant from Mr. Jody Barber to the Community Foundation of Henderson County, the Baker Barber Collection illustrates the pictorial history and evolution of Hendersonville and Western North Carolina through the camera lens. Any donations to the Baker-Barber fund at CFHC will ensure that the historical memory of Henderson County continues to be preserved for posterity.