Daguerreotypes

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Daguerreotypes: Related Holdings

Related Library of Congress Holdings

The Brady studio daguerreotypes make up only a small portion of our Brady holdings. Additional photographs were acquired in the 1940s, when the Library purchased several thousand Civil War era negatives, many of which were made under the auspices of the Brady studio. In 1954, the Library acquired the remains of Brady's Washington studio, the "Brady-Handy Collection," which contained negatives and prints, as well as a few daguerreotypes.

Many of the daguerreotypes held by the Prints & Photographs Division (P&P) came to the Library with manuscript collections. There is textual material in the Manuscript Division which relates to our holdings, such as the papers of Clara Barton, Frances Benjamin Johnston, the Feinberg-Whitman collection, and the American Colonization Society collection. Additional related pictorial material from such collections may also be held by P&P.

Additional information about the American Colonization Society can be found in the African American Pamphlets from the Daniel A. P. Murray collection, 1820-1896 in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. The 351 pamphlets contained in this collection were assembled by Daniel Alexander Payne Murray (1852-1925), an African American bibliographer and historian who worked at the Library of Congress from 1871 to 1923. The pamphlets pertain mainly to slavery and the abolitionist movement.

Major Daguerreotype Holdings in Other Institutions

Many museums and historical societies have daguerreotypes in their collections. Some of the larger or more well-known collections are listed below:

• George Eastman House/International Museum of Photography and Film
  (Rochester, NY) has over 3,500 daguerreotypes. More than 1,200 of these images are by the Boston studio of Southworth & Hawes. Another strength of this collection is French daguerreotypes.
• The Missouri Historical Society
  (St. Louis, MO) has over 600 daguerreotypes by St. Louis daguerreotypist Thomas Martin Easterly.
• Museum of Fine Arts
  (Boston, MA) has a collection of approximately 175 daguerreotypes by the Boston studio of Southworth & Hawes.
• Ohio State University, The Cartoon, Graphic, and Photographic Library
  (Columbus, Ohio) has the Floyd and Marion Rinhart Collection, which includes approximately 1,500 daguerreotypes.
• Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History
  (Washington, D.C.) has over 2,000 daguerreotypes, primarily portraits of unidentified sitters. The collection also includes landscapes, architectural views, and genre scenes.
• Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery
  (Washington, D.C.) has a small, but important collection of daguerreotypes of prominent Americans.
• The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
  (Boston, MA) has over 800 daguerreotypes, primarily portraits of New Englanders.

Links to Related Web Sites

• The Library of Congress American Memory site for the Daguerreotype Collection offers a "special presentation" that gives further details about some of the daguerreotypes. The American Memory Learning Page lists other online resources at the Library of Congress related to this collection.
• The Daguerreian Society
• The Smithsonian, National Museum of American Art, Secrets of the Dark Chamber
  Highlights of an exhibition of American daguerreotypes held at the Smithsonian from June 30 to October 29, 1995
• George Eastman House/International Museum of Photography and Film