100 years ago today, readers of the Lincoln Star in Aurora, Nebraska opened their papers and found some startling news. Popular Aurora photographer Nora Lyons had decided to sell her photography studio to Stanley Lombard, a photographer from Grand Island, who would be taking over the studio later in the week.
Nora Lyons had started working in Aurora after settling there in 1912. Her photographic career had begun earlier, back in 1907, when she worked for some other Nebraska photographers in Columbia and Omaha.
When Nora Lyons first moved to Aurora, she worked for the studio of John W Elarton:
After working for Elarton’s Studio from seven years, Nora Lyons bought the studio in 1919, rebranding it “Lyons Studio.”
Note that by the time Nora Lyons sells the Lyons studio in 1924, she’d been working as a photographer in one capacity or another for 17 years.
But in 1925 she’s ready for a new challenge. She changes both locations and careers, opening the Lyons Coffee Shop in Grand Island, Nebraska to great fanfare In March 1925:
However, for reasons unknown (to me), the Lyons Coffee Shop unfortunately closes a mere six months later. Ah well.
Over the next 10+ years, Nora Lyons does quite a bit of traveling around the U.S. with a college friend, Gladys Stephens. They are usually accompanied on these trips by Gladys’ widowed Aunt Nettie. Through the 1930s, the three women often make extended visits to friends and family in California.
In fact, when Nora’s father dies at the age of 100 in 1938, his obituary states that Nora has relocated to Los Angeles, California. Nora may just have been away for several months on a trip at that point, as she continues to show up in other records that year as living in Nebraska. In any case, until 1940 the only mentions I found for Nora Lyons in the newspapers are stories about these frequent trips, to either her own family gatherings or to those of Gladys’ family.
By the time the 1940 census is taken, though, we see that Nora Lyons has settled down in Omaha, where she turns up working as a photographer again — albeit without her own studio this time. During the 1940s and 1950s she works for a number of other photographers at studios in Omaha and surrounding towns..
She may not be running her own studio at this point in her career, but she’s very successful while back working in other people’s studios. She is even given a special mention in press releases when the Vieregg photography studio opens in Grand Island in 1949:
the opening of the Vieregg studio.
The Grand Island Independent, October 12, 1949
Interestingly, Nora Lyons is identified here as working as a “receptionist”, not a photographer, even while the press release acknowledges her extensive experience as a photographer.
Nora Lyons does eventually do photography at the Vieregg studio, though. In the 1950s, her photography at the Vieregg Studio regularly wins awards and acclaim; her work is also often included in local photographic exhibits. Here’s an example of her winning an award:
Frustratingly, I can find no examples of her photographs from either her early career (1907-1924) or her later one (after 1940).
So, instead, we’ll just end today with a lovely ad from the Vieregg studio as a way to celebrate the accomplishments of the early woman photographer in today’s spotlight, Miss Nora Lyons.
