Who are the Allen Sisters?

Read Aloud

The story of the Deerfield Industries could not be complete without a short account of the photographs of the "Allen Sisters." Miss Frances and Miss Mary Allen were educated for teachers. In the early years of their chosen work deafness developed with both of them. It was a terrible blow, and it was several years before they began taking photographs, first as a pass-time and later as a business. Their pictures are now so well known that it is hardly necessary to add a word here. Miss Mary Allen excells [sic] in landscapes and portraiture and Miss Frances on her fanciful groups of children and choice glimpses of woodland and sky--Their pictures of the old houses in Deerfield and portraits of the town's people of a passed generation are treasures which are growing more precious each year. Their home is one of the oldest and rarest in town, and their pictures are among the best things that the Society of Deerfield Industries has to offer.

Eleanor Arms presentation on the Society of Deerfield Industries, handwritten transcript from the collection of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association.