The Ostrom Photo Project
Sibley County Memories
From 1887 to 1947, Norwegian immigrant Christian Johan Ostrom was a portrait photographer in Winthrop. He took thousands of photos during his sixty year career, preserving memories of weddings, families, soldiers, and other memorable times for many local families. He catalogued the negatives of all photos he took over the course of his career.
In 2006, the Ostrom Studio, now run by Christian Johan’s daughter Elsie, donated thousands of photo negatives to the Sibley Historical Society. Since many of the photos are unidentified, the Ostrom Photo Project publishes select photos in the local newspaper for readers to enjoy and potentially identify. Hundreds of photos have been identified so far, and each publication invites additional memories and possibilities.
The Sibley County Historical Museum has organized hundreds of photos by theme on their website. Themes include musicians, little sailors, double weddings, foreign laborers, pairs, military, and animals (“some real, some not – some alive, some not”). Prints of your favorite Ostrom photos are available for order at www.sibleycountyhistoricalmuseum.com for ten dollars per sheet.
Image courtesy of nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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