Long Trail Photographs
Collection Overview
The Long Trail Collection includes over 900 images of the oldest long-distance hiking trail in the United States: Vermont’s Long Trail. The collection is mainly comprised of black-and-white and hand-colored lantern slides derived from photographs taken between 1912 and 1937. It documents the Green Mountain Club’s building of original trails and shelters and illustrates the enthusiasm for the Long Trail project (and hiking in general) at the turn of the century. These images chronicle the views and landscapes seen by early hikers of the Long Trail and provide an historical record of people associated with the Green Mountain Club’s formative years.
The images in this collection were captured by Green Mountain Club members Theron S. Dean and Herbert Wheaton Congdon, both of whom were early contributors to the trail’s development. Congdon surveyed and mapped a large portion of the early trail including a fifty mile stretch from Middlebury Gap to Bolton. Congdon, along with Leroy Little and Clarence Cowles, is also credited with the first winter ascent of Mount Mansfield on February 21, 1920. Dean is perhaps the most prolific documenter of the Long Trail’s development. Dean travelled throughout Vermont presenting slideshows and giving talks about the Long Trail, often to hundreds of people.
A number of the original lantern slides in this collection were used by Congdon and Dean in their Long Trail presentations. Dean in particular meticulously cultivated his lantern slide collection and displayed these slides during his many talks. These lantern slides were originally digitized by the Landscape Change Program at the University of Vermont. The original slides can be viewed in the Dean and Congdon collections at the University of Vermont Special Collections in the Bailey Howe Library. More information about the Long Trail can be obtained from the Green Mountain Club.
The slides were scanned by UVM's Landscape Change Program with the generous support of the National Science Foundation. The digitized photographs also appear in the image database at http://www.uvm.edu/landscape/.
Published: March 09, 2010, University of Vermont, Bailey/Howe Library, Special Collections
Rights: Requests to reproduce this item should be sent to the UVM Libraries' Center for Digital Initiatives at cdi@uvm.edu. For more information, see http://cdi.uvm.edu/about/rights. More information.
Browse Options
Creator(s)
- Charles Beseler Co. [6]
- Brehmer [2]
- Dean, Theron S. [2]
- Perry, Mrs. [2]
- Marshall, Dr. [1]
Place(s)
- Long Trail [6]
- Beaver Meadow [1]
- Burnt Rock Mountain [1]
- Killington Peak [1]
- Mount Abraham [1]
- Mount Horrid [1]
- Pico Peak [1]
Genre(s)
- lantern slides [6]
- photographs [6]
- landscape photographs [4]
Topic(s)
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Topic: ("Hiking")
Author: ("Charles Beseler Co.")
Title: 20 below zero on Killington trail
Creator: Brehmer; Charles Beseler Co.
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: lantern slides
Both the attribution of the photo to Brehmer and the coloring to Beselers was followed by a question mark in the original title.
Title: Hound's Tooth on Mount Horrid
Creator: Charles Beseler Co.; Perry, Mrs.
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: lantern slides
Resource type: landscape photographs
Colored by Beselars and recolored by Mrs. Perry in March 1929.
Title: Monroe and Farr on Burnt Rock
Creator: Dean, Theron S.; Charles Beseler Co.; Perry, Mrs.
Date: 1920?; 1920
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: lantern slides
Resource type: landscape photographs
Slide made and colored by Beseler Co. and recolored by Mrs. Perry in March, 1929.
Title: Mount Abraham from the West
Creator: Charles Beseler Co.
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: lantern slides
Resource type: landscape photographs
Title: Pico Peak in winter from the West
Creator: Brehmer; Marshall, Dr.; Charles Beseler Co.
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: lantern slides
Resource type: landscape photographs
It is thought that the negative was done Dr. Marshall and the slide was colored by Beselers, although the original title included question marks after these two names.
Title: Signs on a spruce at the ruins of Beaver Meadow Cabin
Creator: Dean, Theron S.; Charles Beseler Co.
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: lantern slides
The signs in this image read, Baby Stark Mt., General Stark Mt., Glen Ellen of Mount Ellen, Lincoln Mt., Couching Lion, Molly Stark Mt., Birch Glen Lodge, and Starksboro. Slide done by Chas. Beseler Co.
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