Snapshots of the Past

[President's house (i.e. White House), Washington, D.C., showing south side, probably taken in winter] – Vintage Photo Print

[President's house (i.e. White House), Washington, D.C., showing south side, probably taken in winter], [ca. 1846] — historic photograph
[President's house (i.e. White House), Washington, D.C., showing south side, probably taken in winter], [ca. 1846]. 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

Few images capture their era like this historic photograph of [President's house (i.e. White House), Washington, D.C., showing south side, probably taken in winter]. Sourced directly from the Library of Congress, it represents an authentic piece of documented history.

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[President's house (i.e. White House), Washington, D.C., showing south side, probably taken in winter]

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Few early views of the President's House survive, and this half-plate daguerreotype shows its south side, probably on a winter day, around 1846. Daguerreotypes were unique images on polished silver-coated copper, so the picture exists only as this one plate, and it is best seen at an angle where the surface shifts from positive to negative. Long exposure times of the period meant that moving people and carriages left little trace, so the building appears still and empty. The house had been rebuilt after British troops burned it in 1814, and images like this one document the capital as it looked in its early decades.

Created / published[ca. 1846]
Medium1 photograph : half plate daguerreotype.
GenreArchitectural photographs 1840-1850.Daguerreotypes 1840-1850.
NotesPurchase; 1972; (DLC/PP-1972:R01.2). Forms part of: Daguerreotype collection (Library of Congress). Exhibit loan 4105-L.
SubjectsWhite House (Washington, D.C.)--1840-1850.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,371 × 1,073 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi
Reference11_Presidents_house_ie_Whi_1846

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