Beecher Family Photograph Collection: Finding Aid photCL 688
Suzanne Oatey
The Huntington Library
November 2022
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Business Number: (626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Beecher family photograph collection
Identifier/Call Number: photCL 688
Physical Description:
3.5 Linear Feet
(4 boxes)
Date (inclusive): approximately
1856-1880s
Abstract: A group of five 19th century
photographs of the Beecher family of New England, and an album of the Bullard family, the
family of Henry Ward Beecher's wife, Eunice (Bullard) Beecher.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at
the Huntington Library for more information. RESTRICTED: Box 1 (Lyman Beecher portrait) is
fragile and only available with curatorial approval.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Beecher family photograph collection, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased for the Huntington from Luxury Catalogs Inc. - 19th Century Rare Book &
Photograph Shop by the Library Collectors' Council, March 19, 2022
The Beecher family was at the center of major 19th century social movements and events,
including women's rights, abolition, and the Civil War. Residing throughout New England,
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and later Brooklyn, Maine, and Florida, several Beechers achieved
wide acclaim. Lyman Beecher was a prominent preacher, Henry Ward Beecher a dynamic clergyman
and social reformer, Catharine Beecher a pioneer in education and careers for women, and
Harriet Beecher Stowe the author of the book Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).
A collection of five photographs of various Beecher family members in five different
photographic formats: ambrotype, albumen print, carte-de-visite, cabinet photograph, and a
hand-colored salted paper print. A portrait of Lyman Beecher produced by Mathew Brady in
1856 is a combination of watercolor, ink, and pencil added to the surface of a salted paper
print. There are two variants of a Beecher family group portrait taken in 1859 depicting
Lyman Beecher and nine of his adult children; one is a large albumen print and the other an
ambrotype. Also included are an autographed cabinet photograph of an older Harriet Beecher
Stowe; and a hand-colored Augustus Morand print based on a miniature of a young Eunice White
(Bullard) Beecher, author and wife of Henry Ward Beecher. This carte-de-visite portrait is
within a Bullard family album containing 45 additional cartes-de-visite and cabinet
photographs. Only a few portraits in the album are identified, including some cousins of
Eunice Bullard.
Processed by Suzanne Oatey in November 2022.
The Huntington has another copy of the Harriet Beecher Stowe portrait: photPF 3316.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Ambrotypes (photographs)
Autographs
Cabinet photographs
Card
photographs (photographs)
Cartes-de-visite (card photographs)
Families -- Photographs
Photograph albums
Photographs
Portraits
Salted paper prints
Beecher family
Beecher, Catharine Esther (Catharine Esther), 1800-1878
Beecher, H. W., Mrs., 1813-1897
Beecher, Lyman,
1775-1863
Brady, Mathew B., approximately 1823-1896
Bullard, William Reed, 1837-1890 -- Family
Hastings, G. H. (George H.)
Howe, George M.
Morand, Augustus, active 1840-1859
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896
Box 1
Lyman Beecher portrait approximately 1856
Physical Description: Hand-colored salted paper print in
case (18 x 15 cm)
A half-length seated portrait of Lyman Beecher by photographer Mathew Brady. A
combination of watercolor, ink, and pencil has been added to the surface of the salted
paper print. "Brady's Gallery, 205 & 359 Broadway, New York" is stamped in the red
velvet case lining.
RESTRICTED. Item is fragile and only available with curatorial approval.
Box 2
Bullard family album with portrait of Eunice White (Bullard) Beecher approximately 1860s-1880s
Physical Description: 46 photographs in one album without
covers
An album featuring a hand-colored albumen print based on a miniature of a young Eunice
White (Bullard) Beecher, author and wife of Henry Ward Beecher. The print by
photographer Augustus Morand was made approximately 1860s and is on a carte-de-visite
mount. Handwriting on the back reads: "Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, taken from a miniature
when she was 18 years old." The Bullard family album contains 45 additional
cartes-de-visite and cabinet photographs dating from approximately 1860s to 1880s. Most
people are unidentified, though three identified people were cousins of Eunice: Clara G.
Bullard, daughter of William Reed Bullard; and two children, Florence May Wyman and
Arthur Wyman, whose parents were Charles F. Wyman and Helen Knight (Bullard) Wyman.
Visible imprints identify photographic studios in Boston, New York, Michigan, Indiana,
and Ohio.
Box 3
Beecher family portrait (ambrotype) approximately 1860
Physical Description: Ambrotype; plate 11 x 14 cm (half
plate format), top half of case missing
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.
Box 4
Beecher family portrait (large albumen print) printed approximately 1880
Physical Description: Albumen print on card mount (25.4 x
31.75 cm), retouched on surface
A large format print (10 x 12 1/2 in.), with some retouching, of the 1859 Beecher
family portrait, produced approximately 1880 by I. C. Pardee, Brooklyn, New York. The
mount has Pardee's imprint and ink handwriting identifying the sitters and (incorrectly)
dating the photograph 1852.
Box 4
Harriet Beecher Stowe portrait approximately 1880s
Physical Description: Albumen print on cabinet card
mount, autographed (14 x 10.2 cm)
A cabinet photograph of an older Harriet Beecher Stowe, showing her in profile, taken
approximately 1880s by photographer George H. Hastings, Boston, Massachusetts. Signed by
Stowe on the lower front mount, below the image.