Home
Photographs Print E-mail

Photographs capture a moment in time.  Historians look at photographs to see buildings that have been torn down or places that have changed.  But beware, photographers sometimes make changes to the scene or the photograph.  So historians think carefully about what they see.

secondvtstatehousetn

This is a daguerreotype of the second Vermont State House from about 1850.  The State House burned down in 1857, so this image lets us know what the building looked like.

Learn More January 6, 1857
ochwsignstn

A photograph of the Old Constitution House in Windsor from 1887.

Learn More The Vermont Constitution
montpeliermaypoletn

These are students from the East State Street School in Montpelier.  They are ready to do a Maypole dance.  By looking at the children's clothing, we can tell this photograph is from the early 1900s.
bosworthchildreninsnowtn

A picture of Raymond and Edward Bosworth playing in the snow in 1908.  Their names and the year are written on the back of the original photograph so we can identify them.
carinmudtn

What happened?  We know this car was stuck in the mud on the East Proctor Road in 1913.  Write a story about the car in the picture.
boltonflood1927tn

The flood of 1927 destroyed many houses and roads in Vermont.

Learn More Rain, Rain, and Still More Rain (PDF) 
benajerryshoptn

Here's a picture of Ben & Jerry's first ice cream shop.  The building used to be a gas station.  Then it was an ice cream shop.  Then the building was torn down.  Now there is a parking lot at this location.  How have buildings in your town changed over time?

If you need help figuring out when a photograph was taken, try using Dating Historic Photographs on the UVM Landscape Change Program web site.

back