Collection Guide
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Collection of Cased Photographs and Related Images
photDAG
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Collection of cased photographs and related images
Identifier/Call Number: photDAG
Physical Description:
14 Linear Feet
(154 boxes and 4 folders)
Date (inclusive): approximately 1840s-1900s,
1992-2012
Date (bulk): 1840s-1860s
Abstract: A collection of chiefly 19th-century
photographs mounted in their original cases, and some related images. The majority are
daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, 1840s-1860s, and are primarily portraits with some outdoor
views including Gold Rush miners.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
RESTRICTED. Items are fragile. Available with curatorial approval. Please view digital
surrogates.
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
copyright for daguerreotypes by Robert Shlaer (photDAG 116, photDAG 154) is held by Shlaer.
For the rest of the collection, the responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if
there is one, and obtaining permission rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Collection of cased photographs and related images, The
Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired from various sources. Items were either acquired individually through gift or
purchase, or were transferred from manuscript collections. See container list for sources of
individual items.
A collection of chiefly 19th-century cased photographs representing some of the earliest
photography formats: daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes. These early photographs, made
on glass or metal plates, were typically placed in small, hinged wooden cases, often covered
with leather and lined in velvet, with a brass mat and piece of protective glass placed over
the image. The collection contains 72 daguerreotypes and 46 ambrotypes (approximately
1840s-1860s), and 58 early tintypes (approximately mid-1850-1900s). Some items in the
collection are not in cases or are in frames.
The Huntington Library assembled these 185 items into a collection from various sources
over a period of many years, and some related formats were added: a miniature tintype album
with 22 portraits; two opalotypes; two miniature paintings; and six photographic prints
placed in cases or frames; and one stereoscopic daguerreotype in a fold-out viewing case.
Also in the collection are two modern daguerreotypes, made in 1992 and 2003 by photographer
Robert Shlaer, and three ambrotypes made in 2012 by Barret Oliver, of the mausoleum of Henry
E. Huntington and his wife, Arabella Huntington, on the grounds of the Huntington Library in
San Marino, California. Most cased items were cleaned and housed in individual, custom-sized
boxes by the Conservation Department in the late 1980s. The majority of photographs are
studio portraits of men, women, and children, made approximately 1840s-1865 (daguerreotypes
and ambrotypes), or approximately mid-1850s-1900s (tintypes). Many are pioneers of the
American West, or ancestors of families who came West, and others are unidentified or of
unknown provenance. Notable portraits are: Edgar Allan Poe; Jane Thoreau (aunt of Henry
David Thoreau); John B. Colton (Jayhawker of 1849); a postmortem view of a young daughter of
B.D. Wilson; Theodore D. Judah; a whole plate ambrotype of a group of San Francisco
businessmen; and a Civil War drummer boy and his mother. There are a few reproduction images
of Abraham Lincoln, including two circular images that were campaign badges. Also in the
collection are several outdoor scenes: California Gold Rush miners posed with tools at work
sites; the First Baptist Church, San Francisco, 1849; a street scene in the frontier town of
Orleans, California; and the locomotive "Sam Cruse," named for an executive of the Memphis
& Charleston Railroad. Photographers are largely uncredited, though three have the
imprint of Robert H. Vance, San Francisco, and date from 1853-1856. A whole plate
daguerreotype of Lyman Beecher is by Southworth & Hawes of Boston, Massachusetts,
approximately 1850.
Most of the images are undated, which is common with cased photographs. If a date can be
determined from writing or other material with the image, or by the image content, that date
is given. When dates cannot be determined from any other source, estimated dates have been
given based on dates of major usage of daguerreotypes (1840s-1850s) and ambrotypes
(1855-1865). Tintypes were produced mid-1850s to early-20th century, though tintypes in this
collection are estimated to date no later than 1900s.
Titles were assigned by the cataloger unless otherwise noted. Dates estimated by the
cataloger are in square brackets. The images were assigned numbers by Library staff over a
period of many years, circa mid-20th century-2013, and these numbers have been retained.
There are no items for numbers 4 and 24; item 106 is missing as of 2009. The cataloger has
intellectually rearranged the items in this finding aid to group together items with shared
provenance, and provide an alphabetical listing of identified persons.
Existence and Location of Copies
Black-and-white copy prints and copy negatives of many of the images were made by The
Huntington Library in the late 1980s. The copy prints are available for reference and are
housed in a separate box with the collection, Box 172.
Existence and Location of Copies
This collection has been digitized in its entirety (except for photDAG 105, photDAG 109,
and photDAG 129) and the digital reproductions are available in the
Huntington Digital Library.
Organized in three series:
- Series 1. Portraits, approximately 1840s-1900s
- Series 2. Mining scenes, buildings, and other subjects, approximately 1849-1900s
- Series 3. Modern ambrotypes and daguerreotypes, 1992-2012
Craig, John S.
Craig's Daguerreian Registry. Torrington (Conn.): John S.
Craig, 1990.
Deas, Michael J.
The Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allan Poe.
Charlottesville (Va.): University Press of Virginia, 1989.
Lenman, Robin.
The Oxford Companion to the Photograph, edited by Nicholson,
Angela.: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Rinhart, Floyd and Rinhart, Marion.
The American Daguerreotype. Athens
(Ga.): University of Georgia Press, c1981.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Children -- Portraits
Church buildings -- California -- San Francisco
Families -- United States --
History
Frontier and pioneer life -- California
Gold mines and mining --
California
Henry E. Huntington Library and Art
Gallery
Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery -- Officials and
employees
Orleans (Calif.)
Postmortem photography
United States -- History -- Civil War,
1861-1865 -- Participation, Juvenile
Women -- Portraits
Ambrotypes (photographs)
Daguerreotypes (photographs)
Opalotypes
Photograph albums
Photographs
Portraits
Tintypes (photographs)
Beecher, Lyman,
1775-1863
Brent, Joseph Lancaster,
1826-1905
Channing, William F. (William Francis),
1820-1901
Colton, John B., 1831-1919
Couts, Cave Johnson,
1821-1874
Huntington, Henry Edwards, 1850-1927 --
Homes and haunts
Jayhawker Party
Judah, Theodore D. (Theodore Dehone),
1826-1863
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
-- Photographs
Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849 --
Photographs
Thoreau, Jane,
1784-1864
Meade
Bros
Oliver,
Barret
Pratt, William A.,
1818-1879
Root, M. A. (Marcus
Aurelius), 1808-1888
Shlaer,
Robert
Southworth, Albert
Sands, 1811-1894
Southworth &
Hawes
Vance, Robert H.,
1825-1876
Whitney, Edward
Tompkins, 1820-1893