Dartmouth's Senior Alumnus
HENRY G. PEABODY '76, Dartmouth's oldest living alumnus, who will be 95 next April, does not claim that photography is the secret of longevity, but he does believe that it has served him well, both as a pioneer profession and as a hobby.
After graduating from Dartmouth, studying further at M.I.T. and working for Western Electric for eight years, Mr. Peabody became a professional photographer in Boston in 1886. One of his first achievements was a hand camera, made for his classmate Samuel Merrill '76 three years before the first hand kodaks appeared on the market. Merrill, a staff member of the Boston Globe, complained that he was often frustrated by having his subjects scared away by seeing him set up the tripod for his camera. He wanted a photographic outfit that would insure more secrecy, so Mr. Peabody built him the camera he is shown holding above. Merrill carried it around wrapped up in a manila paper for a disguise, and used it successfully for many years.
Mr. Peabody remained in Boston until 1900, engaging in all branches of marine, landscape and architectural photography. He published the book RepresentativeAmerican Yachts. He was the official photographer for the Boston and Maine Railroad and travelled extensively in this country, Canada, Mexico, and abroad, photographing noted scenes and structures. This provided material for the illustrated lectures he gave professionally for 15 years. In 1900, long before the Grand Canyon National Park became a park, he gave an illustrated lecture on the Grand Canyon before the student body at Dartmouth, with President Tucker presiding. For more than 25 years he has been a publisher of lantern slides, film slides, and manuals and moving pictures for visual education.
Mr. Peabody was married in 1880 and has a daughter, Mildred. He now lives in Glendora, Calif., where he enjoys the country and its colors, which he finds excellent for photography. His recent Christmas card featured his own colored photograph of the San Gabriel Mountains as seen from his garden.
HENRY G. PEABODY '76 OF GLENDORA, CALIFORNIA
