No man did more to create a pictorial record of Chautauqua County in the mid-20th century than John Oliver Bowman. Nothing escaped his lens: landscapes, architecture, scenic lake views, even life on local farms. 

Bowman worked for Chautauqua County for 45 years, ending his career as deputy county clerk in 1964. As a hobby, he began taking photographs around the county with a box camera purchased in 1936 for 75 cents and six coffee coupons.

In his words, “Whatever your hobby may be, stick to it and you will live longer, be happier, and make lots of friends.” Bowman cherished his friends so much he hung their pictures on the county courthouse wall above his desk so that he could look at them while he worked there as auditor, purchasing agent, and deputy county clerk from 1919 to 1964.

Bowman won national awards for his photography. He had a solo exhibition of 126 pictures at the New York World's Fair in 1939 and his photographs were displayed by Eastman Kodak in New York City. Bowman's love of Chautauqua County's natural environment is evident in the more than 8,000 photographs that he took during his lifetime. 

When Bowman took photos, he liked to be alone with no distractions.

Collier’s Magazine, in 1946, called Bowman the “undisputed box-camera champion of the universe.” In 1943, the photography editor of the New York World-Telegram wrote, “In the file drawer of my desk I always keep a handful of the prints by John O. Bowman of Mayville, NY, to exasperate visitors. Just let them get going about the incomparable merits of their collapsible reflex with the built-in self-winding composition calculator, and I show them the Bowman pictures. All made with a little box camera. Their eye has never observed the pictures the exasperating Mr. Bowman turns out. It is extremely good for the gadget worshipers to hear about the Bowman pictures.”

Another writer commented, “It is quite evident that his pictures are not made by a camera. They are made in the mind.”

“Pictures are no good unless they are seen,” Bowman remarked.

His photos of Chautauqua County were featured in the Christian Science Monitor and won national newspaper awards. One hundred twenty-six of his photos were displayed at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, 99 were shown by Eastman Kodak in New York City, others were used for photo murals in the New York State building at the Fair, and later in the State Museum in Albany.