At the turn of the 20th century, there were quite a few photographic studios in Poultney and a number of photographers. It was a time when immigrants would send studio portraits of themselves to their homelands, as evidence of their success in the new world. The Poultney Historical Society is fortunate to have in its collections hundreds of such pictures.
But with the advent of dry plate photography, which peaked from 1890 to 1920, Poultney photographers could venture out of the studio for the first time. They were able to capture images of daily rural life…to go to people’s farms and lakes, homes and businesses to show them at work and at play.
Two of these photographers are believed to be responsible for most of the glass plate negatives and many of the print photographs included on this site, Harry Rood and Leon Dewey.