Johann Schär, known as "Dängi Hannes," was born in 1855 in Gondiswil in the Bernese Oberaargau, where he grew up in a farming family. In addition to being a farmer, he also served as a forest ranger. He likely began working as a photographer as a self-taught individual: he ordered the necessary equipment, materials, and chemicals and set up a laboratory. A painter friend created backgrounds for him, which he could set up in front of his house for portrait photography. The photographic treasure that Schär created includes about 5,000 glass negative plates as well as several hundred prints on paper and postcards. Taken between approximately 1900 and 1940, the photographs not only provide an impressive insight into the world of rural life but also vividly depict the extraction of lignite, which was primarily conducted through open-pit mining around Gondiswil from late 1917 to 1920.