Browse Items (83 total)

This young couple is truly “dressed for the photographer.” He wears a frock coat, black waistcoat, and silk top hat set at a slant. His white neck tie is either a skillfully tied white cravat, or a pre-formed necktie known as a “stock” that fastened…

The case enclosing this daguerreotype is covered in plum-colored velvet with the words “The Token” stamped on the spine in gold letters. The new medium of photography meshed with the sentimentality of the early Victorian period. The photograph itself…

This daguerreotype in a case features a young woman associated with the Gardner family of Exeter, Rhode Island. She is wearing a striped, one-piece dress. Draped bodices were popular in the 1830s and 1840s. During the 1830s, the fabric would go from…

This woman wears a dark-colored dress with long, closely-fitted sleeves with ruffles above the elbow. These sleeves are a transition from the uncommonly large balloon-like ones of the 1830s, which began deflating in 1837. By 1840, the transition was…

This ambrotype is a portrait of a young woman. As for the dating, it can be determined by the bodice style of the dress which was popular across a span of several years during the 1840s. The bodice, shaped by a long rigid corset, comes to a V-shaped…

This daguerreotype of a woman from the 1840s is in a wood case covered by embossed leather. The front has three flowers, which are framed by a complex border. The back of the case has a repeating pattern of diamonds and zig-zag lines with a…

This photograph shows an older woman seated and resting her arm on a table with four books.  She is wearing a dark-colored day dress with bishop sleeves, which are gathered into narrow cuffs at each wrist. Bodices at this time were V-shaped and…

The photo seen here, called a daguerreotype, features an elderly woman sitting in a chair. Daguerreotype portraits, popular from the 1840s-1860s were made using a sheet of silver-plated copper that had been treated with light sensitive chemicals.…

This image depicts a seated woman wearing a simple, solid colored dress. The dress has full length, set in sleeves with epaulets and a white collar. Tied around the collar is a neck ribbon. An everyday dress for an elderly woman was a simple…

This photograph is an ambrotype of an older woman circa 1850s. The ambrotype is in a brass matte with decorative engravings. Ambrotypes were developed in the early 1850s and were considerably less expensive than their predecessor, the daguerreotype,…