Oval Office photo taken on Nov. 8, 1996 by Robert McNeely
Hurleyville, NY – Robert McNeely is an American photojournalist and Vietnam veteran who chronicled President Bill Clinton’s march to the White House. He shot in black and white (other members of the White House photo staff shot in color) in order to make a historic record of the president’s daily life.
A chronicler of various world leaders, McNeely first became interested in photography while he was serving in the U.S. Army in Southeast Asia, and he has been twice listed in American Photographer Magazine’s “One Hundred Most Important People in Photography.”
Impressed by the collection of Dr. Cook’s photographs during a recent visit to the Sullivan County Museum, McNeely agreed to exhibit his own work in the Cook Gallery, as a way to help the Frederick Cook Society promote Dr. Cook’s legacy.
In 1898, Hortonville native Dr. Cook was on a ship trapped in the ice in Antarctica photographing the events of the Belgian Scientific Expedition. Museum staff and volunteers have been developing and enlarging the original negatives and prints, then mounting them for display. Over 50 such photos are on exhibit.
The McNeely exhibition will open Friday, October 13, at 6 p.m. in conjunction with the Cook Society Lecture Series featuring paleontologist Patrick De Deckker. Professor De Deckker’s talk, which begins at 7 p.m., will focus on the science and heroism of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition.
The Sullivan County Museum is located at 265 Main Street, Hurleyville. For more information, call 845-434-8044 or visit www.frederickcookpolar.org.
