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"Child with Pussies" or "Polly and the PussyWillows"

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Like most of the photographs by Frances and Mary Allen, this photograph is a carefully composed view of domestic life. Pictured here is a young girl, Ina Allen (not directly related), of Deerfield, Massachusetts, where the Allen sisters lived, examining a vase of pussy willows, perhaps gathered from the nearby Deerfield River. This photograph, like many the Allens took, was available for sale. The sisters were able to support themselves through their photography, not only through the sales of individual pictures, but also by commissions for magazines and other print media. Ina Allen (1892-1980) later married Henry Holton Thom.

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