Mennonites in Texas
Mennonites in Texas:The Quiet in the Land is photographic tour of the Mennonites of Seminole, a West Texas farming community of more than five thousand residents and five separate congregations. Produced as my master’s thesis at the University of Texas at Austin, I spent more than a year getting to know the families and participating in day-to-day activities. Through my camera lens, I intended to offer a view of a unique lifestyle seldom experienced by outsiders.
In addition to an exhibit that toured Texas and Kansas, a companion book, Mennonites in Texas: The Quiet in the Land was published in 2006 by Texas A&M University Press.
In a foreword, former governor Ann Richards identifies the book as part of both the long photographic tradition in Texas and the tradition of cultural and religious diversity in the state. Professor Mark L. Louden’s introduction provides the historical backgrounds of Mennonites in Europe, their core beliefs, and their development into branches in North America.
All photographs are from the Laura L. Camden Photographic Archive at the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin.