In the panoramic photo of Fannette Island, the iconic landmass in Emerald Bay (and Lake Tahoe’s sole island), the view captures what many think of when they picture the Lake: thick pines by the beach that meet a view of vast, sapphire water. The panorama of Fannette was photographed by Peter Goin, a foundation professor of art within the College of Liberal Arts. Goin has taught photography for more than 40 years and his latest work, focused on the history of Lake Tahoe and our relationship to it, is now on display at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe campus.  

Located in the Wayne L. Prim Library building, the Goin Legacy Project serves as a multimedia archive of visual content that represents both Tahoe’s past and present, and asks us to think about its future.

So far, the Goin Legacy Project consists of three collections: Tahoe Tomfoolery, the Mural Maze, and the Riparian Shoreline Survey Rephotography Project. Each captures a different, yet historically significant aspect of the Tahoe region. Additional exhibits and experiences are underway for Fall 2025. 

Tahoe Tomfoolery is a collection of cheeky historical photographs – for example, in one black and white image, two camp counselors are dressed up as pine trees. In another, three small dogs are awarded the esteemed title of ‘Harrah’s Tahoe Miss.’ These whimsical visuals capture a sense of Tahoe nostalgia.

Also on display is the Mural Maze, a collection of Tahoe landscapes suspended from the library’s beams, hung in a winding pathway for visitors to walk through. These prints from Goin’s book, Lake Tahoe: A Photographic History 1860-1960, highlight the historical changes of the region’s beloved lake and its shores.  

“It’s a wealth of material that transcends the beauty of the lake and really deals with the history and sense of place of this lake,” Goin said. “It is a globally important lake.”

In another installation, four museum walls capture the natural light pouring in through the Prim building’s large windows to showcase Goin’s rephotographing of the Riparian Shoreline Survey. 

Perhaps the star of the Goin Legacy Project, the series begins with photographs taken in 1915 and 1916, which were taken as part of a study to establish water boundaries. Fast forward nearly 100 years: Over the course of a decade, Goin returned to the original survey sites to take photographs from the exact vantage points. For the first time on display, visitors can now see how the shoreline and surrounding scenery have changed over the past century. 

“This is data-rich,” Goin said. “It’s such an important part of Lake Tahoe’s history, but it’s not, by any measure, all of it. It’s just the only one that’s been rephotographed.”

Hands-on learning on the Lake Tahoe campus

To install the Goin Legacy Project on the University’s Lake Tahoe campus, Goin worked with a team of four undergraduate students – Stella Kraus, Maya Hottot, Sam Dalton and CJ Redden– and team leader Lily Sommerfeldt to install the project. As part of a learning opportunity, the students restored, printed, framed the photos, installed the exhibition and designed accompanying materials. 

A team of undergraduate students helped design and implement the first phase of the Goin Legacy Project at the Lake Tahoe campus. 

“Every step of the way was a process,” Lily Sommerfeldt, who graduated from the University with a BFA in photography and a minor in Spanish literature, said. “We picked photographs for the mural maze, we picked photographs for the humor wall. We involved the students in every step, so the installation was a strong learning experience.”

Students began the process in January – editing, restoring and curating photos from Goin’s collection. Their research and internship work on the project allowed them to receive academic credit for their work. 

Visiting the Goin Legacy Project 

The Prim Library building is open to the public and visitors are encouraged to visit the campus to experience some of this never-before-seen work. 

“We want this to be a dynamic, multimedia archive space,” Sommerfeldt said. “People can interact with the archive in a lot of different ways that we hope can engage the community and any scholars who come to visit.”