Physical Description: Ambrotype; plate 11 x 14 cm (half
plate format), top half of case missing
Scope and Contents
An ambrotype of ten members of the Beecher family in a group portrait originally taken
by Mathew Brady in New York, in March 1859. This ambrotype was copied by photographer
George M. Howe from one of the original salted paper prints. The image is in the bottom
half of a leather case and has a gold mat with the stamp of G. M. Howe of Portland and
Upton, Maine. Lyman Beecher is seated at center, flanked by his four daughters (from
left to right, Isabella, Catharine, Mary, and Harriet). Behind them stand five of the
seven brothers (from left to right, Thomas, William, Edward, Charles, and Henry Ward -
George died in 1843, and James was in Hong Kong serving as a missionary). This was the
last time they came together before Lyman died in 1863. The portrait was reproduced in
several photographic formats over the years, including the print in Box 4.