From the Digital Archivist: Favorite Images of 2025
Karla Kruse, who does special archival projects for the Woodstock History Center, spent much of her time in 2025 scanning thousands of photographs and documents. Scanning not only helps to make the materials more readily accessible, but it also helps to insure that they will be preserved for future generations, and - in some cases - it makes them easier to see as the scans are lighter and brighter than the originals.
While Karla scans thousands of images, there are always a few that stand out as favorites. For 2025, she picked the following images and explained her choices.
Mrs. Lydia Woodward (flanked by photos of two children, who are likely her grandchildren)
Karla notes:
“It was fun to work with our Daguerreotype and Ambrotype collection because so many of them looked like very dark ambiguous material inside ornate framing.
But with the advantage of our scanning equipment, some pretty exciting things emerged.
I like this one of the subjects in various, almost candid expressions. It reminds us that even though our ancestors worked very hard and often didn't have a lot of time for leisure, they had personality quirks and weren't so different from us in that way.”
The Norman Williams House
Karla states:
“Sometimes a photo may not be the most aesthetically interesting, but it can really create a mystery, as was the case with this photo.
During the winter of 2021-2022, I came upon a negative of a beautiful mural, but no information was given on the protective sleeve.
In the early spring of 2025, working through a large collection, an envelope in the box contained a Stereoview card that looked very familiar.
It was the same image!
The envelope had this information written on the outside: "Wall Paper, Old King House on the Green--Woodstock, Vermont. Known later as Norman Williams house, site of the library."
Mystery solved. I wish this mural had moved into the library!”
The Victorian-Style Woodstock Inn
Karla notes:
“This postcard of the ‘old Inn,’ is unique because it has light reflecting off the glass due to foil being applied to the photograph. Of all the many attempts at capturing the essence of this grand old building that we see, this is the one that I truly like, imagining a stroll through the park at sunset and looking up just in time to witness the colors reflecting from the west. “
Green Mountain Horse Association (GMHA)
Karla states:
“I like this postcard image of a horse show at Green Mountain Horse Association with the barn at the home of Robert F Lewis and Nancy Gillette Lewis and their children in the background.
It shows a much simpler time, compared with driving past this area now, filled with huge horse trailers and stall spaces. Well-known photographer George Biggs took this photo.”