Tennie Toussaint Photographs
The Tennie Toussaint collection includes photographs of agricultural landscapes, logging, mills, barn raisings, and railroad bridges from the Danville, Vermont area, circa 1900. Tennie Toussaint was a columnist for the Burlington Free Press in the 1960s - 1970s. In addition, she was an artist, librarian, made maple syrup, and refinished antique chairs.
The photographs were taken by Elgin Gates, a North Danville blacksmith. Other notable figures in this collection are Frank Valley, a carpenter responsible for a lot of the new barns built at this time and the remodeling of many local houses who was known for his meticulous craftmanship, and Arthur Sanborn, who owned the sawmill and whose home had modern touches such as electricity, an aluminum roof, and a stained glass window. The mill owned by Sanborn had previously been run by the McFarlands and produced one million board feet a year at its peak.