Alvah and George Howes of Ashfield, Massachusetts, were early experts in the field of photography. They were also businessmen, who systematically photographed houses and then offered to sell the images to residents. Glass plate negatives of the Howes Brothers’ works are now stored at the Ashfield, Massachusetts Historical Society. This  photograph shows a house on Sugarloaf Street in South Deerfield- one of many pictures of houses on that street taken by the Howes.