Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Archives |
Title |
Samuel A. Bemis Papers |
Caption |
Example of papers |
Scope & Content |
The papers include thousands of pages that document the life, interests and activities of Dr. Samuel A. Bemis who lived from around 1793 to 1881. The papers include a wide variety of materials including letters, sketches, invoices, receipts and diaries. Subjects include dentistry, art collecting, inventions, fly fishing, fine dining, wine, literature, photography, politics, finance and business, railroad construction, road construction (especially of the Tenth Mountain Turnpike - the road through Crawford Notch), tourism, ice house management techniques, timber thieves, weather, genealogy, fruit, farming, quarrying, bird study, Christmas gifts, etc. Dr. Samuel Bemis’s obituary reported "He was ninety years old and very eccentric." In her biographical article on him, Catherine Campbell refered to him as a "Renaissance Yankee." He certainly was eclectic in his interests and taste as this unique collection of primary sources documents. |
Number of images |
2 |
Accession number |
2014.005 |
Catalog Number |
2014.005.0001a |
Finding Aids |
Two finding guides are available for this collection. Bemis Finding Guides There are also a number of blogs on this collection. Bemis papers donation Bemis papers details |
Associated Material |
Samuel A. Bemis was one of America’s first photographers and produced the earliest known accurate sketch and photograph of the Old Man of the Mountain. His cameras and photographs can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Getty Museum, George Eastman House and private collections. The papers include detailed records for three-hundred-fifty daguerreotype exposures. His day job was as a dentist in Boston but he also worked in several other trades and crafts as well as businesses. Early in his career he made clocks and watches. Some of his watch papers are in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society and some of his tools are in the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit. |