Visual Materials

Lyman Beecher

Description: Lyman Beecher (1775-1863) was a New England preacher. Photographer: Southworth & Hawes. Source: Acquisition records and cited in Romer, Grant B. Young America: The Daguerreotypes of Southworth & Hawes (2005). Date based on age of sitter and photograph type.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Date: [approximately 1850]
Call number: (photDAG 13)
Provenance: Acquired from various sources. Assembled into a collection by the Library from various sources. See finding aid for sources of individual items.
Restrictions: RESTRICTED. Items are fragile. Available with curatorial approval. Please view digital surrogates.
Rights: 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.

Lyman Beecher portrait

Visual Materials

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.

photCL 688

Lyman Beecher

Visual Materials

photDAG 13

Image not available

Beecher family photograph collection

Visual Materials

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.

photCL 688

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Beecher Family photograph album

Visual Materials

An album of 45 carte-de-visite photographs dating from the 1850s-1870s, containing portraits of the Beecher family of New England, as well as abolitionists Lucretia Mott, Robert Collyer and unidentified men, women and children. Subjects include: Charles Beecher (1815-1900), page 3, and Lyman Beecher (1775-1863), page 29, the brother and father, respectively, of noted author and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe (who does not appear). Two portraits of anti-slavery and women's rights activist Lucretia Mott (1793-1880) are on pages 19 and 20, one a familiar seated view and another more unusual view of her sitting behind a table with her hand on an open book. A portrait of a young Robert Collyer (1823-1912), the clergyman and abolitionist, appears on page 37, with his name written in ink on the mount (the only photograph that appears to have writing on it). The album itself has no writing except for some flower sketches; identifications have been made largely through research, and there may be other Beecher family or friends represented. Other views include three portraits of men in military uniforms, and two portraits of a little girl with a doll.

photCL 175

Image not available

Jane Thoreau

Visual Materials

Jane Thoreau (1784-1864) was the aunt of Henry David Thoreau. Note in case reads: "Jane Thoreau, aunt to Henry D. Thoreau." Date estimated based on format and age of sitter. This photograph was part of the collection Prudence Ward and Anne J. Ward correspondence, which contains a letter from Maria Thoreau, February 23, 1864, in which she refers to herself and [sister] Jane having had their pictures taken at "Southworth's" (Item mssHM 68721). She is probably referring to other photographs taken in the old Southworth & Hawes studio, and not this daguerreotype, which is estimated to be dated much earlier.

(photDAG 155)

Image not available

Unidentified woman seated in chair [Beecher family?]

Visual Materials

Image deteriorated; face is obscured. Date based on years of major usage of daguerreotypes.

(photDAG 82)

Lyman Beecher

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Lyman Beecher portrait

Lyman Beecher

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Unidentified woman seated in chair [Beecher family?]