Petite, obstinate, sensitive, warm, direct—any and all of these describe Evie Barbour, a postcard photographer who roved the Blue Hill peninsula with her box camera around the turn of the 20th century. She was born to Francis and Adelaide Billings on May 9th, 1877, in Sedgwick, the middle of three children.
She lived much of her adult life in Bangor, where she met and married Morris Kimball of Lewiston, Maine, sometime around 1913, with whom she had two children, Ruth (b. 1915) and Elwood (b. 1918). Kimball was a professional photographer; he schooled his new wife in the use of a camera. Being of an artistic temperament, Evie took to this with quiet devotion. She began to accompany her husband, presumably packing her own gear along, when he went afield searching out distinctive views for his real-photo postcard business.
Following Morris’ death, Evie married Captain George Barbour. She continued the business of producing and selling real photo postcards. In her Model A, she made rounds throughout the Blue Hill peninsula and to Ellsworth, stopping at post offices, libraries, markets—anyplace willing to sell her cards. This afforded her a comfortable living. In later years, she still distributed the photographs herself but began employing a driver. Evie survived Capt. Barbour; when both she and her sister Mary Etta were older and widowed, the two lived together for the remainder of their lives. Evie continued to photograph into old age. She died in 1960 at the age of 83.
