[Four Children]

In the present age, when the life of almost every five-year-old has been chronicled in countless pictures on proud parents’ cell phones, it is hard to imagine how precious and magical a daguerreotype of one’s children must have seemed in the early years of photography. In this example, one of the Museum’s first photographic purchases, four siblings, well-dressed for a visit to the photographer’s studio, face the camera with a variety of expressions—wariness, ease, curiosity, and confidence.