Frederick N. Kneeland

Connecticut River Scenery by Frederick Kneeland

“And he loved not only to drive, but took with him his camera, not only in his carriage, but sometimes far out through the woods and up the hillsides.  His eye has been ever watchful to select the picturesque tree, or the shaded nook, and many specimens of beautiful country scenery …" - Henry M. Tyler, Introduction to Northampton: The Meadow City, 1894 by Frederick N. Kneeland

Scenic landscape by Frederick Kneeland

Northampton resident Frederick N. Kneeland (1849-1938) was regarded in his time as one of the first amateur photographers in the Northampton area.  Kneeland traveled by horse and carriage and later by automobile with his camera to explore and photograph the scenic landscape.  Kneeland published his photographs of the area landscape and Northampton sites in the illustrated book Northampton: The Meadow City (1894) and in calendars published by his employer, the First National Bank. Frederick Kneeland was born in Northampton on September 8, 1849, the son of Frances Strong Kneeland and Isaac Newton Kneeland. The family lived in the round house on Maple Street (now Conz Street) built by his grandfather, Seth Strong. His father, trained as a tailor, entered into partnership with Northampton’s first permanent studio photographer, Jeremiah D. Wells in 1854.  Their daguerreotype business, Wells and Kneeland, operated until 1860, when Isaac Kneeland died from illness at age 40.  In March 1869, at the age of 19, Frederick Kneeland began working at the First National Bank.  He was successively promoted to the positions of bookkeeper, teller, cashier and vice-president until his retirement in September 1930, after 60 1/2 years of service.

Drives in Northampton and Vicinity

In 1888, Kneeland published Drives in Northampton and Vicinity.  The 61-page guidebook featured directions for 118 scenic drives in Northampton and the surrounding landscape, encouraging readers to “take your team, if you have one, if not, hire one … and see what there is around you.”  Kneeland loved to explore the area with his horse, Billy, to whom the guidebook was dedicated and aimed for readers to explore it as he did: "There is no uninteresting scenery around our city.  Here, and in the surrounding towns, are beautiful streets, shaded by fine elms of great age, and pleasant river and meadow drives.  The views from Mts. Holyoke and Tom, for cultivated beauty, cannot be surpassed…. Suppose that this year, instead of spending your money at some well advertised place of resort, you spend the same amount in driving or riding through Western Massachusetts.  You will see more beauty and perhaps as much grandeur…."

Northampton: The Meadow City
Six years later, in 1894, Kneeland published the illustrated volume, Northampton: The Meadow City with L.P. Bryant of the Bryant Publishing Company of Florence.  The book featured over 250 illustrations of Northampton buildings and sites as well as landscape photography, including photographs Kneeland took himself. Shown here is a photograph of the gymnasium of the Mary A. Burnham School for Girls on Elm Street in Northampton.

1908 First National Bank calendar

First National Bank Calendars
For many years, the annual calendars distributed by the First National Bank featured a Frederick Kneeland photograph.  The collection of Historic Northampton includes four First National Bank calendars with captions attributing the photographs to Kneeland.   The wall calendars display a single photograph mounted on matte board with a stapled tear-off calendar below it.  The 1911 calendar featured a photograph titled Connecticut River Scenery.  The 1908 calendar featured a landscape scene titled “Connecticut River Valley, Northampton, Mass.”  An undated calendar featured a colored photograph of Paradise Pond captioned, “Glimpse Through the Pines – ‘Paradise.’”  The 1923 calendar featured a photograph of Echo Lake, Franconia Notch in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  In 1896, Kneeland published White Mountain Glimpses, a volume of his photographs of the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

In 1998, Kneeland’s grandson donated to Historic Northampton a photograph album belonging to his grandfather containing 136 photographs.  The album contained several of the photographs that appeared in Northampton: The Meadow City and the bank calendars.  View the photograph album of Frederick Kneeland online on the Online Research section of museum's website. In addition to the album and calendars, the collection at Historic Northampton includes Kneeland’s glass plate negative storage cabinet.

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