Although his relationship with the daguerreotype was short-lived, Samuel A. Bemis (1793-1881) left his mark as one of the earliest photographers to capture the romanticism of the American landscape, including the first to photograph the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Bemis was a dentist, by profession, in Boston. He was called “the first amateur photographer in this country” by Matthew Isenburg, coauthor of “Photographica”.

A total of 22 full plate daguerreotypes were discovered by Ferrisburg, VT auctioneer Arthur H. Smith as part of the estate of Florence Morey of Franconia, NH. A Boston Globe article from December 1, 1980, notes that, “Until Smith uncovered the plates in an antique sideboard, it was believed that all Bemis daguerreotypes were at the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY.”

These two full plates by Bemis embody America’s eager embrace and excitement for Daguerre’s invention. One view shows a fence in the foreground and the White Mountains in the distance; the other, while quite vague, is an image of a page in a catalogue for fishing lures.