Lessons from the Meeting House

In Sarah Camhi’s Upper School Photography class this fall, students explored how their personal experiences can impact their photography.

After learning about the history of the Matinecock Meeting House, built in 1725, with Quaker-in-Residence Jen Cort and reflecting on their own experiences within Quaker Meeting, students crafted queries relating to the Meeting House, Quakerism, or Simplicity, such as “What’s the history of this place?” and “What has this place gone through?”

Ms. Camhi then challenged students to photographically respond to those queries in a series of three images.

Top: Photography by Alvin Caal/Friends Academy

One student, sophomore Diane Qiu, decided to focus on the variety of events that took place in the Meeting House. Her reflection and inspired images follow below:

"I’m recollecting what I remember and what I learned. From when I first entered the Meeting House, I knew nothing of it. This was in 4th grade. After learning the history through story after story, it became a whole new different place. From a weird building with an odd smell, to a place that represents something more. Something deeper.

I was told that this Meeting House was used by early Quakers. It was used to settle into silence and to hold meetings like we do now. I was also told that the Meeting House helped hide slaves during that time in the basement. But one day, the Meeting House burnt down. It was said to be an accident, I forgot the cause. After the burning down of the Meeting House the Quakers gathered to help restore it. Building another one on top of the old one; using some other materials from the older one; shards of glass reused in windows... 

...burnt pages from a book showed the Meeting House and a passage from it about restoring it or something like that. It's framed in the Meeting House. The boards and floors in the Meeting House were overturned and reused again as well. The place really is a spectacular place."