Porter C. Thayer Photographs
Collection Overview
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.
Time Period Covered: 1906 - 1920
Published: October 11, 2010,
Rights: 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
Browse Options
Creator(s)
Place(s)
- Newfane (Vt.) [17]
- Williamsville (Vt.) [15]
- Dover (Vt. : Town) [7]
- Townshend (Vt.) [5]
- Jamaica (Vt.) [4]
- Wardsboro (Vt. : Town) [4]
- Brattleboro (Vt.) [3]
- Marlboro (Vt.) [2]
- Londonderry (Vt.) [1]
Format(s)
- image [66]
Genre(s)
- black-and-white photographs [66]
- photographs [66]
- group portraits [5]
- landscape photographs [2]
Topic(s)
- Animals [66]
- Horses [21]
- Portrait photography [18]
- Transportation [18]
- Children [13]
- Snow [8]
- Barns [6]
- Roads [6]
- Family [5]
- Thayer family [5]
- Draft animals [4]
- Landscape photography [4]
- Advertising [2]
- Central business districts [2]
- Cows [2]
- Dairying [2]
- Fairs [2]
- Farmhouses [2]
- Postal service [2]
- Sawmills [2]
- Sheep [2]
- Stores, Retail [2]
- Swine [2]
- Taverns (Inns) [2]
- Valley Fair (Brattleboro, Vt.) [2]
- W.J. Metcalf Feed & Stable (Dover, Vt.) [2]
- Bicycles [1]
- Brattleboro Retreat [1]
- Church buildings [1]
- Haying equipment [1]
- Holidays [1]
- Logging [1]
- Parades [1]
- Photography of interiors [1]
- Stagecoaches [1]
- Stratton family [1]
- Whitaker's Store (Newfane, Vt.) [1]
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Topic: ("Animals")
Title: Small child in a wagon with a puppy
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 19--
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Same child as bmlthayerT1131. Same location as bmlthayerT1102.
Title: Thayer family barnyard with chickens, Newfane, Vt.
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 19--
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Title: The latest cereal production
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 19--
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Title: Transporting logs in winter, Townshend, Vt.
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 19--
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Mr. Jelly and his oxen pulling a sled of logs with woodstove on the back of his sled.
Title: Two couples with bicycles and a dog
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 19--
Resource type: group portraits
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Title: Unidentified family portrait with two dogs in Windham County,Vermont
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 19--
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Title: Unidentified house with a cat, Wardsboro, Vt
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 19--
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Back of house in bmlthayerT651. Referred to as the creamery.
Title: Unidentified house with woman holding a cat, Wardsboro, Vt.
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 19--
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Front of house in bmlthayerT652 and bmlthayerT1219. Referred to as the town creamery.
Title: W.J. Metcalf Feed, Stable with boy and oxen team in front
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 19--
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Title: W.J. Metcalf Feed, Stable with man and stagecoach in front
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 1911
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Stagecoach from Williamsville to Dover pictured. Looks like negative might have gotten fogged on right side.
Title: Wallace Johnson's Boy with your Oxen, Marlboro, Vt.
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 1915
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Title: Wardsboro Road, East Dover, Vt.
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 1911
Resource type: landscape photographs
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Horse and carriage on the road, with Herman Moore on left and Stuart Clark on right.
Title: Webster Thayer, as child, with a cat
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 19--
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Title: Whitaker's Store, South Newfane, Vt.
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 19--
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Title: Woman in bee suit with a swarm of bees, Newfane, Vt.
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 19--
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
Title: Young men with 6 oxen team and sled, Marlboro, Vt.
Creator: Thayer, Porter C. (Porter Charlie), 1882-1972
Date: 19--
Resource type: photographs
Resource type: black-and-white photographs
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