Grandpa Porter's Photos & Photography 101

Last week my family was invited to a reception at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (the hospital where I was born) :) in Brattleboro, VT because the hospital hung a display of enlargements of my great-grandfather Porter's photographs in their administration wing.   

My great-grandparents, Porter C. Thayer and Edith Webster Thayer, were photographers when photography was till somewhat of a novelty.  

They held a photography studio in Townsend, VT in the early 1900s and Grandpa Porter traveled (by horse-drawn cart) all around Southern Vermont capturing and preserving on camera images of rural life...working people, towns and landscapes.  

His photos are now quite well-known and have become an important piece of Vermont history.

If you stop at a General Store in Vermont today you are likely to find some black and white postcards with Grandpa Thayer's trademark white descriptions at the bottom of each picture.  His photos pop up all over the place.

This past year Brooks Memorial Library and the University of Vermont have been working together to digitize 1,250 of my great-grandfather's photos in order to preserve them, which I think is very exciting.

And the display at the hospital is an honor.  Here are some photos of the reception last week, courtesy of Bratteboro Memorial Hospital.

My Dad & his brother Bill, Porter's grandsons

 

Dad & Mom, Aunt Mary, Uncle Bill, my cousins Bill & Becky

So...with Grandpa Porter's photography skills on one side and Josh's photography skills on the other we're expecting great things from Knox in the photo realm...  (no pressure) :)

We've started his training early, check it out.  :)

Porter's Great Great Grandson, Photographer in Training