Daguerreotype, "The Token" 1840s

Briana 2.JPG
Briana outside.JPG

Subject

Photograph

Title

Daguerreotype, "The Token" 1840s

Date

1840s

Description

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 shows a seated woman wearing a paisley shawl with a book in her hand. The woman’s hair is parted down the middle and likely secured in the back with a bun, which was common during this period. She is wearing a white cap, probably of cotton or linen, with lappets hanging down (Tortora and Eubank 2010: 338). She also wears a brooch.

Her dress has fan pleating on the bodice. Until the end of the 1840s it was common to have bodices with front fullness created by gathers or pleats (Severa 1995: 9). The removable white collar protected the neckline of the dress from body oil. Her sleeves are hidden beneath the shawl, prohibiting the viewer from determiniing how they were cut, but they appear to be tight to the wrists.

The paisley shawl would have been a status item at this time. Women saved to buy the best that they could afford, although printed shawls began to provide an inexpensive alternative in the mid 1850s. The manner in which this shawl drapes around the shoulders suggests that it is a woven, rather than a printed, shawl.

The case is of voided velvet over wood with embossed velvet pad and embossed metal matte.

Purchased on Cape Cod

References

Phyllis Tortora and Keith Eubank. Survey of Historic Costume, 5th ed. New York: Fairchild, 2010.

Joan Severa, Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans and Fashion, 1840-1900. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1995.


 

Source

Whitlock Collection
Donor: Mary C. Whitlock

Identifier

URI 1962.31.904

Contributor

Brianna Souza

Medium

The case is of voided velvet over wood with embossed velvet pad and embossed metal matte.

Citation

“Daguerreotype, "The Token" 1840s,” Historic Textile and Costume Collection, accessed March 29, 2024, https://uritextilecollection.omeka.net/items/show/231.