Rob Caldwell, of News Center Maine, recently sat down with Strout Family Photographic Archivist, Katie Perry, and Leon B. Strout’s great-granddaughter, Kristin Strout, to talk about the ambitious digitization effort currently underway at Bowdoin College Library’s Special Collections & Archives. The project will bring more than 5,000 images of life in midcoast Maine, taken by Brunswick photographer Leon B. Strout between the 1890s and the 1930s, out of storage and onto the web.
Kristin and her father, Ben Strout, live on the West Coast and knew little about Leon Strout’s work. That changed when she became a Bowdoin parent several years ago. During a family weekend visit to Special Collections & Archives, Kristin and Ben encountered their ancestors’ work firsthand. Inspired to ensure that Strout’s photographs are available to all to see and enjoy, the Strout family is funding a nearly two-year project to digitize some 5,000 glass and film negatives as well as approximately 1,000 photographic prints that were deposited with the College in 1938 upon Strout’s death.
Caldwell’s coverage of the Strout collection and project aired on 207 on November 19, 2025. The segment, which includes close ups of many of Strout’s images, is available to watch online by following the link below.