PLATE BOX IMAGE "H"


A ninth-size plate box with 12 extremely early daguerreotypes
survives from the dawn of photography.





The plate box and 12 ninth-size daguerreotype plates.
[Fig. 10 credits]

There is enough circumstantial evidence within the box to convince the writer that the contents may represent a remnant of lost daguerreian experiments performed during 1839 and 1840 by Draper and Morse at the University of the City of New York. Each image may represent an example of a different stage or technique in their experimentation. All plates were exposed although only six still show discernable images. Each image is a portrait.

Three of these daguerreotypes could shed further light upon the apparently brief interaction between Draper and Morse in fall 1839. Plates H, I, and J within the box possibly record the exact moments Morse and Draper displayed for each other their relative degrees of experimental success.

At least one other observer may have been present. As newly appointed Chancellor of the University of the City of New York, Theodore Frelinghuysen would have predictably taken interest in, and been a logical subject for, novel experiments unfolding in the university building. Frelinghuysen likely had leisure time for such visitation because students were not in attendance for two weeks after the 20 September arrival of Daguerre's procedure.

The juxtaposition of all three men at the university during September and October 1839, and the circumstantial sequence of events during these crucial days in the birth of American photography, constitute the theoretical groundwork necessary to postulate an explanation for three of the most interesting images within the plate box.



Plate "H"
[Fig. 11 credits]
 Plate H records a man holding a pen, sitting in a garden or greenhouse. The image is reversed left to right. A ten to twenty minute exposure with the lens specified in Daguerre's manual would take an exactly plate H style--distant, full length, outdoor photo which allowed only poor resolution of facial detail.

This lens was exactly the type used by Morse and most other early practitioners who lacked detailed knowledge of optics and lens systems. The early daguerreotype of McAllister in Welling's book is similar in composition to plate H, because such a pose was conducive to the operation of the standard daguerreian lens.

Detail of Plate "H"
[Fig. 11a credits]

Plate "H" could hypothetically be a portrait of Dr. John William Draper. It compares favorably with his face and figure as delineated in later photographs.



On left, detail of Plate "H" c. 1839 (reversal of the original daguerreotype is corrected),
and on right, detail of a carte de visite photograph of Draper c. 1860
[Fig. 12 credits]

Since it is a distant portrait, not enough visual evidence exists to make any real identification. Circumstantial evidence for such a supposition stems largely from the juxtaposition of Draper and the suspected subjects of the other plate-box images in the place and time of history that was New York University in fall 1839.

[To view Plate H compared
with other pictures of Draper,
follow this link.]


It is quite conceivable that Samuel F. B. Morse took this photograph. As already explained, Morse's first attempts at portraiture were limited to exactly such a lens system. His presence during at least part of the production of these plate-box images can be inferred from visual evidence in another plate (plate J). It is rational that Morse and Draper might have demonstrated their photographic capabilities to each other during the first few weeks of daguerreian experimentation at New York University.


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7. Plate box image "I"


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5. Draper's second portrait lens


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