KANE — Elizabeth Kane can be remembered for many things — her writings on The Church of Latter Day Saints, her admission as one of the first women to Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, her activism for the rights of women, and her work as an amateur photographer.

Her photography is the subject of a book to be released June 22 at the Kane Depot during Reunion Weekend. Kane Historic Preservation Society, in conjunction with Brigham Young University, have co-authored a book titled “Focusing The Lens Of Exploration, A Photographic Journey Through The Life Of A 19th Century Polymath.”

Dick Bly, chairman of the Kane Historic Preservation Society, explained in a prepared release more about the woman sometimes called “The Mother of Kane.”

“Elizabeth was one of the first female photographers in the country, starting in the early 1850s and mentored with noted portrait photographer Langenheim brothers in Philadelphia,” the release stated. “Unlike portrait studios of the day, she took her camera into the wilds of Pennsylvania.”

She and her husband, Thomas Kane, an attorney who later became a famed Civil War general, were exploring the area in the 1850s for the McKean & Elk Land and Improvement Co. She traveled with her camera, capturing landscape scenes and history in and around “the Big Level,” the immediate area surrounding Kane. Bly continued, “Many of the photographs shown in the book are from glass negatives and a combination from both the historic society and BYU collections.”

The Kanes had a significant connection to The Church of Latter Day Saints — LDS or Mormons. Thomas Kane was influential in the westward movement of the Mormons, negotiating with the federal government on their behalf and working to obtain statehood for Utah.

Bly said, “Next to the LDS collection at Brigham Young University, the Thomas and Elizabeth Kane collection is their second largest one.”

Elizabeth Kane kept journals through most of her adult life, and some of her journal entries are included in the new book. “These journals are preserved by BYU. This collaborative project with BYU has been in the works for a few years,” Bly explained.

The book contains a forward written by Andrew O’Neill Kane, great-great-grandson of Elizabeth and Thomas Kane.

“He will be signing books at the Depot on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon,” Bly said.

The depot is located in uptown Kane at the intersection of US Route 6 and Route 66.