1883 Blair Mailing Envelope Featuring the Tourograph and Knockdown Cameras
The envelope above is addressed to a well documented photographer of the 1850-1900 period. You can read his biography below:
THOMAS M.V. DOUGHTY (1824 - 1911)
Born in 1824 in New York state, he first appeared as an “artist” in the 1850 census for Cornwall, Conn. Then he lived with his family, including a brother John H. Doughty, also noted as an artist; and another brother Edgar Doughty, as well as his parents and other siblings.
A published brief biography of Doughty (the original citation for which we have misplaced), indicates that possibly c. 1848-1850 he studied the daguerreotype in New York City with Seth C. Landon, and then operated a daguerreian wagon in the western part of Connecticut. In 1851 he was apparently in Lakeville, Conn.
He may have moved to Winsted, Conn. as early as 1856; in February of that year he apparently purchased Landon's Sunshine Gallery and moved the gallery to the corner of Main and Bridge Streets.
This was probably the start of his photographic career, which would last until his death in 1911.
In 1858, he was contracted to produce an estimated 8,000 photographs for the faculty and students of Williams College, in Massachusetts.
In 1860, Doughty was listed in the census as a photographer. In the same census, Edgar Doughty was listed as a student, living with his brother Thomas; and also as a daguerreian, living in Cornwall.
Thomas Doughty was alternately listed as an artist or photographer in Winsted through the turn of the century.
In 1863, Doughty opened a branch gallery in the Woodford Block, and apparently entered a partnership with his brother-in-law King T. Sheldon. Doughty and his family moved to Salisbury, Conn. in 1910, just a year before his death.
This researcher's collection includes a carte-de-visite of Doughty (self-portrait) posed with his camera on a tripod, as well as a sixth-plate daguerreotype, inscribed carefully along the bottom edge of the image, “The house where I was born.” A card bound with the image on the back has the penciled notation, “The house where I was born July 1st, 1824. Picture made in the winter of 1854 and 1855. Winsted, Ct, July 1, 1909. T.M.V. Doughty”.
Source: Craig’s Daguerreian Registry (Research on American Photographers 1839-1860) http://www.craigcamera.com/dag/ john@craigcamera.com
