Albert Sands Southworth
[Autographed Note by Zachary Taylor and Southworth & Hawes Business Card]

CultureAmerican
Titles
  • [Autographed Note by Zachary Taylor and Southworth & Hawes Business Card]
Datelate 1850s
MediumDaguerreotype
DimensionsAt opening: 5 1/16 × 3 3/4 in. (12.9 × 9.6 cm)
Open: 1/2 × 6 1/8 × 9 5/8 in. (1.3 × 15.5 × 24.5 cm)
Closed: 13/16 × 6 1/8 × 4 7/8 in. (2 × 15.5 × 12.4 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Buddy Taub Foundation, Dennis A. Roach and Jill Roach, Directors
Object number2018.180
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

Daguerreotypes were lauded for their
precision; by the mid-19th century “daguerreotype” was synonymous with accuracy
and truthfulness.







The
Southworth and Hawes studio was famous for daguerreotype portraits, yet this
work reveals a lesser-known aspect of the firm’s story. In the 1850s, Southworth
began a new venture—graphology, the “analysis . . . of questionable writing.”
Here, the studio business card sits atop a letter bearing the signature of
Zachary Taylor—one of the most sought-after autographs in the 19th century.
This photograph utilized the veracity of the daguerreotype, the status of the
partnership, and the lure of Taylor’s signature to attract customers eager to
authenticate their own documents.

ProvenanceThe Southworth & Hawes Studio, Boston; by descent to Edward Southworth Hawes, Boston; probably Holman's Print Shop, Boston, early 1940s; David Feigenbaum, Boston; [Sotheby's, New York, The David Feigenbaum Collection of Southworth & Hawes and Other 19th-Century Photographs, April 27, 1999, lot 43]; [Larry Gottheim], by October 2016; [Lee Gallery, Winchester, MA]; purchased by MFAH, 2018.
Catalogue raisonnéRomer, Grant B. and Brian Wallis. Young America: The Daguerreotypes of Southworth & Hawes. (New York: Steidl, 2005) p. 474, pl. 1882.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Major-General Zachary Taylor
Sartain & Sloanaker
c. 1849–1852
Mezzotint on wove paper
B.92.19
Untitled
c. 1855
Daguerreotype in leather case
2003.612
Untitled
Meade Brothers
c. 1850s
Daguerreotype in Union case
2005.63
Untitled
c. 1855
Daguerreotype in leather case
2003.549
[Sergeant, 7th New York State Militia]
1847–1851
Daguerreotype with applied color in leather case
2014.842
Ravenheart
Curtis Wehrfritz
2012
Daguerreotype
2013.179
[Martha Ripley Hawley and her Daughter-in-Law Harriet Tobey Hawley]
Josiah Johnson Hawes
1850–1855
Daguerreotype
2015.405
[Young Woman with Gold Jewelry, Holding Book]
c. 1855
Daguerreotype with applied color in leather case
2004.1461
[Photographic Jewelry]
Various
Gelatin silver prints, ambrotype, tintype and daguerreotype jewelry
2021.679.1-.14
Untitled
James P. Weston
c. 1850s
Two daguerreotypes, 1/6 plate
2005.82
Sam Houston
Meade Brothers
1851
Daguerreotype
92.444