The Wayland Historical Society recently purchased more than
  forty 19th century photographs created by early photographer,
  Josiah Johnson Hawes,  who was born in Wayland. Hawes,
  with his partner, Albert Sands Southworth, created some of the
  best portraits and landscapes of their day over a period of
  twenty years and were considered the first great masters of
  photography in America.

The Society purchased the photographs
from John Felix of North Reading. Felix
registered amazement at the quality of
the work done by these photographers
with what we would now consider
primitive equipment. At that time
photographers were limited to natural light. Hawes put a skylight in his studio!

He and his partner worked with daguerreotypes until 1854 when  new inventions made photographs possible. They photgraphed four U.S. presidents and numerous well-known political leaders and writers.