Snapshots of the Past

[William L. Dayton, half-length portrait, three-quarters to the left] – Antique Photo Print

[William L. Dayton, half-length portrait, three-quarters to the left], [between 1844 and 1860] — historic photograph
[William L. Dayton, half-length portrait, three-quarters to the left], [between 1844 and 1860]. Historic photograph from the Daguerreotypes & Early Photography collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

A window into the past: [William L. Dayton, half-length portrait, three-quarters to the left], preserved in this historic photograph. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

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[William L. Dayton, half-length portrait, three-quarters to the left]

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Turned three-quarters to the left and cropped at mid-body, this half-plate daguerreotype shows William L. Dayton, a New Jersey lawyer and politician whose identity the record ties to the plate through an engraving by J.C. Buttre. Dayton served in the U.S. Senate from New Jersey during the 1840s and early 1850s and was the Republican nominee for vice president alongside John C. Frémont in 1856. The gold toning and half-plate size were typical of the portrait work made in Mathew Brady's studio in the years before the Civil War, when daguerreotypes were the dominant form of photographic portraiture. The number 108 scratched on the back of the plate is a handling mark that helps identify this example within its collection.

Created / published[between 1844 and 1860]
Medium1 photograph : half plate daguerreotype, gold toned.
GenrePortrait photographs 1840-1860.Daguerreotypes 1840-1860.
NotesScratched on back of plate: 108; Dayton, William L. Identification from engraving by J.C. Buttre. Hallmark: [asterisk] Transfer; U.S. War College; 1920; (DLC/PP-1920:46153). Forms part of: Daguerreotype collection (Library of Congress). Produced by Mathew Brady's studio.
SubjectsDayton, William L. (William Lewis),--1807-1864.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,219 × 1,536 px · prints to 4 × 5 in at 300 dpi
Reference545_William_L_Dayton_halfle_1844

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