# Samuel Bemis > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Samuel_Bemis > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Samuel_Bemis.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Bemis > Source revision: 1310900786 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American dentist and early photographer (1793–1881)}} {{For|the historian|Samuel Flagg Bemis}} {{more citations needed|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox person/Wikidata|fetchwikidata=ALL}} thumb|300px|Daguerreotype by Bemis (about 1840) '''Dr. Samuel A. Bemis''' (1793–1881) was one of the earliest photographers in the United States. A small number of his [daguerreotype](/source/daguerreotype)s have survived. ==Biography== Bemis was a [Boston](/source/Boston) [dentist](/source/dentist) when in April 1840 he acquired an early camera and became one of the first Americans to take a photograph. His extant daguerreotypes include views of Boston and of the [White Mountains](/source/White_Mountains_(New_Hampshire)) of [New Hampshire](/source/New_Hampshire). These images are the earliest known American photographs of natural landscapes. Bemis's interest in photography began in March 1840 when he attended a series of lectures and demonstration of the daguerreotype process given by [François Fauvel-Gouraud](/source/Fran%C3%A7ois_Fauvel-Gouraud), a pupil of [Louis-Jacques Mandé Daguerre](/source/Louis_Daguerre) and an agent for [Alphonse Giroux](/source/Alphonse_Giroux) & Cie., sole manufacturers of equipment endorsed by Daguerre. (Daguerre had announced his process in early 1839. Gouraud arrived in [New York City](/source/New_York_City) on November 23, 1839, there exhibited daguerreotypes in December, and in January lectured in [Philadelphia](/source/Philadelphia). By March he was lecturing in Boston with [Edward Everett Hale](/source/Edward_Everett_Hale) among his other students; from there he travelled on to [Providence, Rhode Island](/source/Providence%2C_Rhode_Island), and by 1842 was listed as a daguerrean in [Buffalo, New York](/source/Buffalo%2C_New_York).) Bemis bought his daguerreotype camera from Gouraud for $51, along with twelve daguerreotype plates (16.5 x 21.6 cm) at $2 each. His total investment was $76 (${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|76|1840}}}} in {{inflation-year|US}} dollars), a considerable sum. (This is believed to be the first camera sold commercially in the United States.) Four days later, on April 19, 1840, Bemis made his first daguerreotype. His early pictures were taken in Boston. When summer came, he photographed in the White Mountains around [Crawford Notch](/source/Crawford_Notch), where he had recently relocated. Bemis was not a masterful technician; his remaining images show inadequate processing of the daguerreotype plates. Bemis actively daguerreotyped until October, 1843, and evidently took up other hobbies. His camera apparatus is on display at the [George Eastman House](/source/George_Eastman_House) along with the original bill of sale and some of his images. In [New Hampshire](/source/New_Hampshire), Bemis bought land from innkeeper [Abel Crawford](/source/Abel_Crawford), who had pioneered tourism in the White Mountains. This property included most of today's [Crawford Notch](/source/Crawford_Notch). Spurned in romance shortly after his move, Bemis built a granite mansion and became an eccentric recluse. At one time called "the Lord of the Valley", Bemis named a lake, mountain, brook, ridge, and other spots in the White Mountains for himself. In an obituary published in 1881, he was described as "not as odd as might be expected, yet sufficiently so to distinguish him from the ordinary run of men."{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} His house, now known as the Notchland Inn, currently operates as a bed-and-breakfast establishment. Bemis is buried beside the house. == Collections of his images == * [George Eastman House](/source/George_Eastman_House) (19 plates and his two cameras) * [Getty Museum](/source/Getty_Museum) (4 plates) == Manuscripts == * The Bemis papers were recently donated to the [https://www.conwaypubliclibrary.org Conway Public Library], Conway, NH by Ed Butler and Les Schoof, owners of the [http://www.notchland.com/ Notchland Inn]. [http://conwaypubliclibrary.org/uploads/pdf/Press_Release/Samuel%20Bemis%20Donation%20Press%20Release.pdf Read the press release announcing the donation]. == References == {{Commons category}} * Rudisill, Richard. ''Mirror Image: The Influence of the Daguerreotype on American Society.'' Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1971. p. 283. * Newhall, Beaumont. ''The Daguerreotype in America.'' New York: Dover Publications, 1976. pl. 3. *{{cite web |website=Luminous Lint |last=Bermudes |first=Robert W. Jr. |title=Samuel A. Bemis |date=2006 |url=http://www.luminous-lint.com/_switchbox.php?action=ACT_SING_PH&p1=Samuel__Bemis&p2=ABCDEFGHIJKLN |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090715045118/https://luminous-lint.com/app/home/?action=ACT_SING_PH&p1=Samuel__Bemis&p2=ABCDEFGHIJKLN |archive-date=15 July 2009}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Bemis, Samuel}} Category:1793 births Category:1881 deaths Category:Photographers from Boston Category:19th century in Boston Category:19th-century American photographers Category:19th-century American dentists --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Samuel Bemis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Bemis) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Bemis?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.