In 1900, photographers Frances and Mary Allen took this outdoor scene which shows a woman and a child petting a horned cow. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries large numbers of Eastern European immigrants came to the Connecticut River Valley in Massachusetts, lured by its agricultural opportunities. Many of them were laborers who then later purchased their own farms. The cattle provided milk, cheese, butter, and meat for large immigrant families. These dairy products could also be sold for cash.

Between 1890 and 1920, the Allen sisters of Deerfield, Massachusetts, created idealized photographs of country scenes, figure and child studies, and landscapes of New England, Quebec, California, and Great Britain.

Frances (1854-1941) and Mary (1858-1941) began working as photographers after progressive deafness obliged them to reassess their chosen vocation of teaching. Working within social and aesthetic reforms of the Arts and Crafts Movement, they found that Deerfield’s 18th and 19th century houses and furnishings offered an ideal environment for their pseudo-Colonial creations.