The Smith and Telfer Photographic Collection

The Smith and Telfer Photographic Collection at the New York State Historical Association and The Farmers' Museum. "...History doesn't tell us how Washington G. Smith first learned to take daguerreotypes. In 1850, photography was still in its infancy and the 22-year old Smith was working as a store clerk in Garrattsville, a village in the Otsego County countryside not far from Cooperstown. Perhaps an itinerant 'daguerrian artist' stopped at the store on one of his journeys through the county taking portraits of local residents. Young 'Wash' Smith might well have been fascinated by this new technology that allowed images to be captured for posterity. However Smith picked up photography, by 1852 he had joined Gerrit Olendorf, already a 'skillful and experienced' daguerreotypist, and traveled the region taking dageurreotypes. By the next year the partners felt secure enough to give up their traveling carriage in favor of a permanent studio in Cooperstown."