Porter C. Thayer Photographs

This archive contains 1300 photographs made by Porter C. Thayer,scanned from silver gelatin prints, held in the collection of the Brooks Memorial Library. The prints were made in 1980 from the 5x7 glass plates negatives created by Porter Thayer. These images are also available on microfilm at the Brattleboro library.

Porter Thayer was born Porter Charlie Thayer on January 6, 1882 on Main Street in Williamsville, Vermont. He grew up in the red house called the Tillotson Place in the Parish section of Newfane, Vermont.

He photographed Windham County, Vermont, beginning in 1906 through around 1920. Like most Vermont men of his generation he was a farmer, specifically an apple orchardist, managing his 50 acre apple orchard on Baker Brook Farm in Newfane. He turned to his apple business after ending his photographic career.

The postcard craze that most likely reached Vermont by about 1905, was perhaps the impetus for Porter Thayer starting up a photographic business. His diaries tell that he sold 1,197 postal cards during a six-month period at the height of his career. The cards were for sale as souvenirs to summer tourists at small general stores, local inns, boarding houses and hotels. Local folks purchased his photographs as well, especially around the Christmas season, to send to distant relatives. A Brattleboro, Vermont directory of 1909 lists Porter as advertising that he would come to anyone’s home and make images for a reasonable fee. Around 1911 he recorded that he had 720 customers. Eventually he photographed in all the towns within a 25 mile radius of his home in Newfane.

Porter Thayer perfectly fits the archetype of the town photographer. He traveled the narrow dirt roads in his buggy, behind his faithful mare Lady, who accompanied him daily. He could apparently take extended naps while Lady brought him safely home, as she always knew the way. He used two cameras: a 5 x 7 and a 6.5 x 8.5 view camera and made glass dry-plate negatives. He traveled with stacks of postcards to be delivered at stores along the way to his days work.

Working continually through seasons and years, Porter Thayer left an archive that is a cultural treasure for southeastern Vermont. The quality of his work shows that he was able to combine business needs with aesthetic ones. During the time period Porter worked, Vermont was extremely poor and rural, yet held a close-knit population that shared the labors of life. Farmers helped one another to survive in a subsistence and barter economy. For women, men, and children, life meant constant work. Thayer’s images describe the work and the tools involved. His landscape images reveal this working landscape, which today is mostly hidden by trees. The fruits of his labor as a photographer have grown in importance, as both the landscape and culture of Vermont has shifted into modern spheres of living.

Written by Jessica Weitz and Forrest Holzapfel, 2010.

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Collection Details

Photographer
Porter C. Thayer, 1882-1972
Subject
Country life
Genre
Photographs
Form
nonprojected graphic
Type of Resource
still image
collection
photographs
Source Document Location
Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro, Vermont
Publisher
University of Vermont Libraries, Center for Digital Initiatives
Access Conditions
In Copyright
Access Conditions [Local]
The William Thayer Family and heirs hold copyright to the Porter Thayer Photographs collection. Material in the collection may not be used without permission. For permission requests, contact Bill Thayer at billthayer08@gmail.com
Identifier [Local]
thayer
Language
eng
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318 Dwellings 277 Roads 246 Williamsville (Vt.) 204 Business 193 Newfane (Vt.) 153 Children 148 Landscape photography 133 Horses 117 Central business districts 110 Transportation 105 Portrait photography 103 Rivers 99 Jamaica (Vt.) 88 Wardsboro (Vt. : Town) 87 Church buildings 85 Bridges 77 Brattleboro (Vt.) 74 Snow 70 Farmhouses 67 Elementary school buildings 67 Holidays 66 Animals 66 Barns 66 Townshend (Vt.) 60 Dover (Vt. : Town) 55 Taverns (Inns) 54 Parades 54 Wilmington (Vt.) 51 Photography of interiors 48 Retail 48 Stores 47 Fences 45 Sawmills 44 Agriculture 44 Dummerston (Vt.) 42 Stone walls 40 Marlboro (Vt.) 38 Railroad tracks 34 Dams 31 Londonderry (Vt.) 31 Oxen 28 Automobiles 28 Neighborhoods 27 Covered bridges 26 Putney (Vt.) 25 Halifax (Vt. : Town) 23 Employees 23 Maple syrup 22 Construction projects 22 Family 20 Searsburg (Vt.) 19 Railroad trains 19 West River Valley (Vt.) 18 Logging 17 Vacation homes 16 Cemeteries 16 Draft animals 16 Jacksonville (Vt.) 16 Teachers 15 Ames Hill Road (Brattleboro, Vt.) 14 Natural disasters 14 Postal service 14 Western Avenue (Brattleboro, Vt.) 12 Westminster (Vt.) 11 Brookline (Vt.) 10 Apples 10 Baker Brook Road (Vt.) 10 Birds-eye view 10 Fairs 10 Hunting 10 Merrifield Mill (Williamsville, Vt.) 10 Mines and mineral resources 10 Valley Fair (Brattleboro, Vt.) 9 Bands (Music) 9 Guilford (Vt.) 9 Machinery 8 Architecture 8 Brattleboro Retreat 8 Courthouses 8 Crops 8 Farms 8 Forests and forestry 8 Ponds 8 Putney (Vt.)[|}Thayer family 8 Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie),1882-1972 7 Casson, Ben 7 Statues 7 Theaters 6 Baseball 6 Blacksmithing 6 Camping 6 Connecticut River 6 Dairying 6 Dexter, E. M 6 Higley Hill Road (Vt.) 6 South Branch School (Marlboro, Vt.) 6 Stagecoaches 6 Vernon (Vt.) 5 Advertising 5 Victorian 4 Boats and boating 4 Clothing 4 Cows 4 Dover (Vt. : Town)[|}Thayer family 4 H.A. Williams Store (Williamsville, Vt.) 4 Indians of North America 4 J.A. Muzzy & Co. Store (Jamaica, Vt.) 4 Libraries 4 Mountain Mills (Wilimington, Vt.) 4 Onlya Farm (Brattleboro, Vt.) 4 Police 4 Quarries and quarrying 4 Round Schoolhouse (Brookline, Vt.) 4 South Pond (Vt.) 4 Spinning machinery 3 Bank buildings 3 Brattleboro (Vt.)[|}Betterly family 3 Brattleboro (Vt.)[|}Thayer family 3 Camps 3 Hale, Lucy 3 Lakes 3 Morse, J. E 3 Prisons 3 Street-railroads 3 Williamsville (Vt.)[|}Thayer family 3 [|}Thayer family 2 Bicycles 2 Bingham's Mill (Newfane, Vt.) 2 Blackface entertainers 2 Boy Scouts 2 Colonial 2 Connecticut River[|}Thayer family 2 F.B. Stone's Sawill (Halifax, Vt.) 2 Flood damage 2 Green Mountains (Vt.) 2 Green Mt. Inn (W. Dover, Vt.) 2 Haying equipment 2 J.A. Davis' Store (West Dover, Vt.) 2 Jamaica Lumber Company (Jamaica, Vt.) 2 L.T. Landman General Merchandise Store (South Londonderry, Vt.) 2 Searsburg (Vt.)[|}Thayer family 2 Sheep 2 Soldiers 2 Stratton (Vt.) 2 Swine 2 Taft, William H. (William Howard),1857-1930 2 W.J. Metcalf Feed & Stable (Dover, Vt.) 2 Wardsboro (Vt. : Town)[|}Webster family 2 Weavers 2 Webster family 1 C.S. Wilkins General Store and Inn (East Dummerston, Vt.) 1 Cattle 1 Dover (Vt. : Town)[|}Stratton family 1 Gothic 1 Halifax (Vt. : Town)[|}Stratton family 1 Howe's Mill Dam (East Dover, Vt.) 1 Interior architecture 1 Jamaica (Vt.)[|}Stratton family 1 Moody's Store (E. Dover, Vt.) 1 Newfane (Vt.)[|}Thayer family 1 Newfane (Vt.)[|}Webster family 1 Peaked Mountain (Vt.) 1 Pierce, Delbert 1 Prouty's Mill (East Dover, Vt.) 1 Stoves 1 Textile workers 1 Trolley buses 1 Veterans 1 Wardsboro (Vt. : Town)[|}Betterly family 1 Wardsboro (Vt. : Town)[|}Thayer family 1 West River Valley (Vt.)[|}Thayer family 1 Whitaker's Store (Newfane, Vt.) 1 Williamsville (Vt.)[|}Betterly family 1 Wood 1 [|}Webster family 1 subject_geographic

230 Williamsville (Vt.) 195 Newfane (Vt.) 92 Jamaica (Vt.) 92 Wardsboro (Vt. : Town) 65 Dover (Vt. : Town) 61 Townshend (Vt.) 49 Brattleboro (Vt.) 46 Wilmington (Vt.) 40 Dummerston (Vt.) 33 Marlboro (Vt.) 32 Putney (Vt.) 30 Londonderry (Vt.) 26 Halifax (Vt. : Town) 22 Searsburg (Vt.) 16 Ames Hill Road (Brattleboro, Vt.),Brattleboro (Vt.) 16 Jacksonville (Vt.) 11 Westminster (Vt.) 10 Brookline (Vt.) 10 Western Avenue (Brattleboro, Vt.),Brattleboro (Vt.) 9 Guilford (Vt.) 9 Merrifield Mill (Williamsville, Vt.),Williamsville (Vt.) 8 Williamsville (Vt.),Baker Brook Road (Vt.) 6 Jamaica (Vt.),West River Valley (Vt.) 6 Vernon (Vt.) 4 Brattleboro (Vt.),Connecticut River 4 Dummerston (Vt.),West River Valley (Vt.) 4 Marlboro (Vt.),South Pond (Vt.) 4 Mountain Mills (Wilimington, Vt.),Wilmington (Vt.) 3 Brattleboro (Vt.),Western Avenue (Brattleboro, Vt.) 3 Higley Hill Road (Vt.),Wilmington (Vt.) 3 Marlboro (Vt.),Higley Hill Road (Vt.) 2 Brattleboro (Vt.),West River Valley (Vt.) 2 Connecticut River,Putney (Vt.) 2 Green Mountains (Vt.),Townshend (Vt.) 2 Stratton (Vt.) 2 West River Valley (Vt.) 1 Baker Brook Road (Vt.) 1 Brookline (Vt.),West River Valley (Vt.) 1 Connecticut River 1 Connecticut River,Westminster (Vt.) 1 Londonderry (Vt.),West River Valley (Vt.) 1 Newfane (Vt.),West River Valley (Vt.) 1 Peaked Mountain (Vt.),Townshend (Vt.) 1 Townshend (Vt.),West River Valley (Vt.) 1 West River Valley (Vt.),Jamaica (Vt.) 1 West River Valley (Vt.),Townshend (Vt.) 1 Western Avenue (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1 Williamsville (Vt.),Merrifield Mill (Williamsville, Vt.) 1 Williamsville (Vt.),Williamsville (Vt.),Baker Brook Road (Vt.) 1 Wilmington (Vt.),Williamsville (Vt.)
Miniature of "After the Hunt", View Taken in Newfane, Vt.
"After the Hunt", View Taken in Newfane, Vt.
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    • Date Created: 1909
    • Parent Collections: Porter C. Thayer Photographs
    Miniature of "Fairview" Dover, Vt.
    "Fairview" Dover, Vt.
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      • Date Created: 1909
      • Description: Robcheck's (?) house (1978) with view of church on common in the background.
      • Parent Collections: Porter C. Thayer Photographs
      Miniature of "Only a Farm" on Ames Hill Road, Brattleboro, Vt.
      "Only a Farm" on Ames Hill Road, Brattleboro, Vt.
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        • Date Created: 19--
        • Parent Collections: Porter C. Thayer Photographs
        Miniature of 4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
        4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
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          • Date Created: 1913
          • Parent Collections: Porter C. Thayer Photographs
          Miniature of 4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
          4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
          Image nop
            • Date Created: 1913
            • Description: Sleigh being pulled by horses.
            • Parent Collections: Porter C. Thayer Photographs
            Miniature of 4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
            4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
            Image nop
              • Date Created: 1913
              • Parent Collections: Porter C. Thayer Photographs
              Miniature of 4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
              4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
              Image nop
                • Date Created: 1913
                • Parent Collections: Porter C. Thayer Photographs
                Miniature of 4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
                4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
                Image nop
                  • Date Created: 1913
                  • Parent Collections: Porter C. Thayer Photographs
                  Miniature of 4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
                  4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
                  Image nop
                    • Date Created: 1913
                    • Parent Collections: Porter C. Thayer Photographs
                    Miniature of 4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
                    4th of July Parade in front of Newfane Inn, Newfane, Vt.
                    Image nop
                      • Date Created: 1913
                      • Parent Collections: Porter C. Thayer Photographs