Bread and Milk Frances S. Allen and Mary E. Allen, 1894 Albumen print

In the nineteenth century, it was unheard of for a commercial photographer to portray a child eating. But once women entered the profession, they looked for beauty in everyday life in and around their homes, resulting in compositions of domestic life. This photograph was acclaimed as a fine example of what women could do with the camera. It was reproduced in "Baby-Photography for Amateurs," Photo-Era, October 1900, and in "Women Photographers and Their Work," The Delineator, November 1901.

Editor's Introduction: In our effort to expand HJM's focus to include artistic and material culture, we have initiated a new "Photo Essay" feature. Here we offer selections from a photography exhibit on display at Memorial Hall Museum in Deerfield. Because HJM is now available in several online academic databases, reproducing this exhibit in our pages makes it available to a much wider audience and preserves it for future generations of readers and researchers. Suzanne L. Flynt is curator of Memorial Hall Museum, Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, Massachusetts.

Frances Stebbins Allen (1854-1941) and her sister, Mary Electa Allen (1858-1941), were among the foremost women photographers at the turn of the twentieth century. Frances and Mary Allen's home and inspiration were in the Connecticut River Valley town of Deerfield. The Allen sisters were provided opportunities to advance academically, socially, and artistically at Deerfield Academy and, beginning in the fall of 1874, at the State Normal School teacher's college in Westfield, Massachusetts (now Westfield State College). The sisters amiably shared a room, classes, and friends. After the first day of school, Frances wrote to her mother:

"I...