The Howes Brothers were early entrants into the world of commercial photography who enjoyed a vibrant career in the years after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Growing up in

Ashfield, Massachusetts Ashfield is a New England town, town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,695 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield metropolitan area, Massachuset ...

, the oldest brother, Alvah, born 1853, was the first to take up

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

sometime in the mid-1880s after time spent as a farm laborer. He brought his brother Walter into the profession and together they began taking and selling photographs in southern

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

and the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley or Hudson River Valley comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The region stretches from the Capital District (New York), Capital District includi ...

. In 1888 they set up a studio in

Turners Falls, Massachusetts Turners Falls is an unincorporated village and census-designated place in the town of Montague in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,512 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropo ...

, and occasionally employed their youngest sibling, George. In the summers, Walter and George toured, settling in a town for a week or more, taking photographs and selling the prints at three for a dollar. Alvah, on the other hand, ran the Turners Falls studio, staying there until 1894 when his business collapsed, a victim of the

Depression of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States. It began in February 1893 and officially ended eight months later. The Panic of 1896 followed. It was the most serious economic depression in history until the Great Depression of ...

. In 1896 Alvah returned to photography and joined his brothers on the road. They took pictures across New England, particularly in Massachusetts,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

and

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

. They specialized in selling affordable, easily produced photographs, creating a record of the lives of ordinary people, many of whom would never have had a formal studio photograph taken. By 1902 the brothers decided to end their touring life. The last photographs known by Alvah were in 1906 or 1907; he died in Ashfield in 1919. Walter and George moved to other business ventures. George died in 1925, and Walter in 1945. The Howes brothers took more than 20,000 images, many of which were restored in a conservation effort in the early 1980s. That archive rests at the Historical Society in Ashfield, Massachusetts. Reproductions of it are on microfilm at the

University of Massachusetts–Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the Ma ...

and at the Greenfield Public Library in Greenfield, MA. Edited by Alan Newman, "New England Reflections, 1882–1907: Photographs by the Howes Brothers" (Pantheon Books, 1981), is the book that describes the Howes brothers' life and work.

External links

Ashfield Historical Society Howes Exhibit
{{authority control Brother trios Photographers from Massachusetts People from Ashfield, Massachusetts Year of birth missing 19th-century American photographers 19th-century American male artists

See also

External links