Easterly Daguerreotypes

Description

Thomas M. Easterly, Missouri Historical SocietyThis collection contains the earliest known photographic images of Vermont. They were created by Thomas M. Easterly of Guilford and Brattleboro in about 1847. Easterly learned his art in Albany or New York City, returned to Vermont, and created these eight daguerreotypes in areas around Burlington, Rutland, and Brattleboro before heading out west for the rest of his career. We don’t know when the Easterly daguerreotypes came to the Vermont Historical Society, but they were uncovered in our photograph collections in 1984 by two researchers from Brattleboro who were responding to a request from Professor Dolores A. Kilgo who was writing a book on Easterly entitled "Likeness and Landscape: Thomas M. Easterly and the Art of the Daguerreotype." (Photo of Thomas Easterly in 1845 courtesy of Missouri Historical Society.)

Contributor(s)

  • Leahy Library, Vermont Historical Society

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High Bridge Across Winooski River
This photograph is taken from the level of the river, looking toward a man who is crossing the river on rocks and a covered bridge linking the high banks in the distance. This view was probably taken at the site of the present Lime Kiln Bridge in…

"No Watery Glades . . . Connecticut River Valley"
In this view the photographer looks southerly down the Connecticut River Valley from the base of Chesterfield Mountain (now called Mount Wantastiquet) in Hinsdale, N.H., toward the town of Vernon, Vermont. A tree frames the view on the right and the…

Brattleboro, Vt., from Chesterfield Mountain, N.H.
In this view the photographer looks westerly across the Connecticut River (hidden) from the base of Chesterfield Mountain (now called Mount Wantastiquet) in Hinsdale, N.H., toward the town of Brattleboro, Vermont. Many buildings, roofs, and steeples…