Henry H. Hill photograph collection, A1297

Henry H. Hill was born in Hamilton, NY on June 18, 1844. In 1862, Hill entered into an apprenticeship in the Hamilton gallery of S.C. Abbott. Over the years, Hill moved around the village occupying different gallerys and working with different partners including C.D. Atkins and J.R. Muth. On August 27, 1867, Henry Hill married Emma Lay. They had two children together, Walter and Florence. In January 1885, he won his first contract to make senior photographs at Madison University. In 1888, Hill won the contract to make photographs for the Hamilton Female Seminary and Hamilton Academy. This year was also when he took the first series of his "Views of Colgate", "Views of Hamilton", and likely his first series of faculty photographs. In January 1890, he won his second contract to make senior photographs at the renamed Colgate University. A fire on February 21, 1895 destroyed a large portion of the village including Hill's gallery containing all of his equipment, records, negatives, and speciman photographs. Hill was able to move to a new gallery in 1896. E.H. Stone took over Hill's old gallery in 1900 and soon had most of Hill's business as well. Henry Hill began working some in Smyrna and eventually semi-retired and moved his gallery into his home in 1905. On July 25, 1918, Henry H. Hill died in his home in Hamilton, NY due to congestive heart failure.

Source: Carl Petersen,"Henry Hill : Hamilton's Resident Photographer, 1863-1918," 2001, Henry Hill Photograph collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Colgate University Libraries.