Henry Bogenrief Photograph Collection

Collection

Identifier: Photo 2052

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Bogenrief Collection has been organized into two series: Textual materials and Photographs. This collection is only a small part of his total photographic work during his career, but reflects everything that was donated to the Institute after his death. The Textual Material Series consists of two folders of articles by and about Mr. Bogenrief, related to his photography, and several letters from Ida Prokop Lee regarding his photographs. Of note, is a copy of the first issue of the Fargo-Moorhead Camera Club’s newsletter from September 1957. The Photograph Series consists of forty-nine photographs, all taken by Mr. Bogenrief, except one. They have been organized into nine topical files. There are images of Bonanzaville U.S.A.; at the Cass County Historical Society in West Fargo, N.D. The downtown Fargo businesses files includes views of the Shields Hotel, top of the Masonic Grand Lodge, smokestack of the NSP power plant; a Fargo street car on its last run on August 21, 1937; the Roberts house on South 8th Street, and an elevated view looking north up Broadway. Other files include of a Hawaiian church (mounted and matted); two female circus performers with elephants; and an older man sleeping on a bench outside of the Waldorf Hotel in Fargo. There are three portraits of Mr. Bogenrief, taken as a young man, and later in life. The People file includes a group image of Bertha Bogenrief and Mae Bogenrief with a Native American at Itasca State Park in Minnesota. There is also a portrait of the same Native American. There are a number of snow and snowdrift images, which were his favorite to take. Two photographs have been retained in their frames, including his 1953 Dunvilla, Minnesota scene in winter for which he received several awards; and Burton V. Bohrer’s Wind Patterns, which was exhibited at the 1937 World Fair.

Dates

1930s?-1990s?

Creator

Bogenrief, Henry, 1903-1997. (Person)

Access

The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Institute.

Copyrights

Copyrights to this collection remain with the creator.

Biography

Henry “Hank” Bogenrief was born Oct. 28, 1903 at Pollock, S.D. As a young boy his parents moved to Fargo, N.D. In 1930 he graduated from Moler Barber College in Fargo and received his state barber license. He married Mae Stolts on Sept. 1, 1935. She died in 1980. They had no children. Mr. Bogenrief owned the Waldorf Hotel Barber and Beauty Shop until destroyed by fire in 1951. He then worked at different barber shops and became an instructor at Moler Barber College. During World War II he was a ship service barber and took part in the capture of Iwo Jima in the Pacific. After his retirement in the late 1960s, he became manager of the barber shop in the Fargo Veterans Administration Medical Center for twenty-five years. In 1936 he helped organize the Fargo-Moorhead Camera Club, as well as clubs in Minot, N.D. and Fergus Falls, Minn. In 1994 he received a life membership in the Fargo-Moorhead Camera Club. He was also instrumental in the relocation of the David Houston house to Bonanzaville, as well as the barber shop in Buffalo, N.D. Mr. Bogenrief died March 22, 1997 in Fargo.