KANE — Elizabeth Kane, wife of Gen. Thomas L. Kane, is known around the borough which bears their name as a remarkable woman. She was a pioneer in women’s rights, a medical doctor and accomplished photographer.

Many people may have gotten to know Elizabeth Kane through the 2014 play “Elizabeth and Thomas L. Kane: Terraces of Kane Summit” by Michael Schultz and Elizabeth Haberberger or through the many programs presented by the Kane Historic Preservation Society.

And now, thanks to the Kane Historic Preservation Society and Brigham Young University of Provo, Utah, people can now get to know Elizabeth Kane through her photography.

Ryan Lee and Tom Wells, curators at the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young, paid a visit to the Kane Historic Depot on Monday to begin sorting through pictures and negatives taken by the borough foundress.

Wells, the library’s photographic expert, studied glass slides and early photographs taken by Elizabeth Kane on Monday. Wells noted some damage on one particular slide, an image of the old Kane Summit Homestead taken around 1880. He also studied some early photos of Kane Manor and some of the surrounding area.

Scott Morgan of the Kane Historic Preservation Society said the guests from Brigham Young also went on a tour in the areas where the photographs were originally taken. Morgan said the Kane Summit site, Seneca Springs, the old barn, pond and sawmill were shown to Lee and Wells. He said after overlaying a photo from 1871 of Kane Summit with a current photo of the site, which is now the home of Kane Area High School, they were able to approximate where the old homestead was situated.

“The stage of the auditorium is where the front porch of the house was,” Morgan said. “The third row back, fifth seat in was the edge of the porch.”

The origin of the project can be traced back to last year’s borough sesquicentennial, when Lee and several other representatives from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints visited the borough and officially donated the Gen. Thomas L. Kane Memorial Chapel to the society during the festivities. After dialogue with the society, and viewing the images and reading the journals during the 150th celebration, the idea for the book saw its genesis, according to Lee. He said there is not much written about Elizabeth Kane.

“There is so much written about Thomas,” Lee said, “but more people have been becoming interested in Elizabeth.”

Dick Bly of the Kane Historic Preservation Society said there are approximately 150 photographs and negatives between the society and Brigham Young. Lee said approximately 80 to 100 of these images will be selected for the book.

With the combined collection of images set alongside of the journals of Elizabeth Kane, a more vivid picture of the early days of Kane can be brought to life, said Bly. Lee also noted how the journals and images complemented each other.

“It puts them in context,” said Lee.

The fact that Elizabeth Kane was an accomplished amateur photographer lends more credence to the fact the extraordinary woman was well ahead of her time, said Bly. He noted when she started taking photos in the 1850s, there were not many photographers in the first place, let alone women photographers. According to Bly, Elizabeth Kane mentored under an accomplished photographer from Philadelphia.

Bly said the research has already uncovered things about the borough that the society had not realized. He said after looking at some of the photographs from Brigham Young, the original train depot was adjacent to the roundhouse, which is near the current Poplar Street bridge.

“We had never seen (the photo) before,” said Bly. “The original depot had a telegraph office, likely a rail office and possibly a place for the railroad workers to live.”

Lee said the library, too, found images in Kane they previously did not know existed, such as photos that gave away the developing process used by Elizabeth Kane in the early days of photography. He said the book will have many of the most important photos taken by Elizabeth Kane held by both the Kane Historic Preservation Society and Brigham Young University.

“Put the two worlds together,” Lee said.

Lee said the book is projected to be released in 2017.