McCRACKEN — The traveling exhibit Cowboys, Combines, and Small Towns of Frontier Photographer F.M. Steele opens July 1 at the McCracken Public Library.

The library is located at 303 Main St. and is open from 2-5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Friday; 9 a.m. to noon Wednesday; and 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. It is closed on Thursday and Sunday.

In 1890, F.M. Steele outfitted a buggy with photographic equipment and headed out from Dodge City to photograph cowboys. Within 10 years he had broadened the scope of his subject matter. In addition to field photography, Steele had more than a dozen studios in Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Steele considered himself an artist, yet the value of his work today is as documenting turn-of-the-century life. In this exhibit Steele documents the changing landscape, cowboys, agriculture, construction, town life, buildings and portraits of people.

Cowboys, Combines, and Small Towns of Frontier Photographer F.M. Steele was produced by the Kansas Humanities Council, Emporia State University, and the Kansas Historical Society and is part of the Kansas Interpretive Traveling Exhibits Service.