APPENDIX 1:
THE PLATE-BOX IMAGES: A RECAPITULATION AND SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE FOR EACH PLATE.

ALSO, HYPOTHESES CONCERNING
PLATE M.


PLATE: A

DESCRIPTION: A shadowy human figure is partially visible on the plate. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 7/16 inches (5 x 6.2 cm).


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "A"
(Writer's collection.)
 WRITTEN ON BACK: Nothing .

POSSIBLE LENS: Five inches diameter and seven inches focal length. A lens of this aperture and focal length would have maximized light falling upon the daguerreian plate. It would however, have been impossible to achieve any degree of sharpness in the image (in other words there would have been no depth of field) owing to the degree of spherical aberration in a lens with such a ratio of diameter to focal length (f stop would have been only about 1.4).

DRAPER QUOTATIONS: (highlights are mine)
lens five inches in diameter and seven inches focus . . . dark parts of the clothing impressed themselves . . . the forehead and cheeks and chin on which the light fell most favorably, would come out first.[109]
The first daguerreotype portrait consisted of white spots corresponding to the forehead, the cheeks and the chin of the sitter.[110]
By increasing the illumination and prolonging the time I could get the whole countenance. But as you will gather from the size of the lens I used, though it was a combination of a pair of convexes, nothing like a good picture was possible.[111]
HYPOTHESIS: Plate A could theoretically be one of the experimental series of daguerreotypes Dr. John William Draper took on 22 or 23 September 1839 of his assistant William Henry Goode in the chapel of the University of the City of New York. This image would be a partially successful exposure leading up to Draper's first successful "whole countenance".

In this image part of a hand is visible propping up the sitter's head. Dark clothes and hairline, white-spots of the forehead, cheeks, and chin of the sitter are alsovisible, exactly as Draper describes in the above quotations. Facial features are shadowy and confused however, apparently owing to a movement blurred or double exposure of the face. Draper described just such a problem with "double exposures" in his first experiments.[112*]

The lens system described by Draper would not have allowed anything "like a good picture" (in other words there would have been no depth of field, no clearness of focus). This appears to be the exact phenomena visible in this plate-box image.

Once Draper went on to capture "the whole countenance" with this lens, even if out of focus, he possibly accomplished one of the first likenesses of the human face. His closest competition was Alexander S. Wolcott who two weeks later on 7 October succeeded in taking a tiny, three-eighth inch (it measured less than one-quarter inch square) profile daguerreotype of his partner, John Johnson.


PLATE: B
DESCRIPTION: An exposed plate with no identifiable image. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 7/16 inches (5 x 6.2 cm).


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "B"
(Writer's collection.)
 WRITTEN ON BACK: Nothing.

POSSIBLE LENS: ?

DRAPER QUOTATION: None.

HYPOTHESIS: This plate may once have contained a visible image. William Henry Goode explained that Draper's earliest method of fixing images utilizing zinc, "is now generally abandoned, in consequence of the tarnishing of the proof after a time." This process or some other factor in the last 150 years may have caused the original image to fade from sight.

On the other hand, the plate may always have been just as visually indistinct as it now appears. It was possibly saved within the plate-box as an example of under or over-exposure, a failed exposure with a different lens, or for some other experimental variable.


PLATE: C
DESCRIPTION: An exposed plate with no identifiable image. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 7/16 inches (5 x 6.2 cm).


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "C"
(Writer's collection.)
 WRITTEN ON BACK: Nothing.

POSSIBLE LENS: ?

DRAPER QUOTATION: None.

HYPOTHESIS: Same as Plate B.


PLATE: D

DESCRIPTION: An exposed plate with no identifiable image. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 7/16 inches (5 x 6.2 cm).


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "D"
(Writer's collection.)
 WRITTEN ON BACK: "X". Which could mean the plate was unsatisfactory for further use or that the image failed to appear. The "X" may have been written on the back of the plate after a previous exposure. The "X" could have been made many years after the photo was taken, possibly after it faded from view.

POSSIBLE LENS: ?

DRAPER QUOTATION: None.

HYPOTHESIS: Same as Plate B (also C).


PLATE: E

DESCRIPTION: An exposed plate with no identifiable image. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 7/16 inches (5 x 6.2 cm).


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "E"
(Writer's collection.)

WRITTEN ON BACK: "X". Same as Plate D.

POSSIBLE LENS: ?

DRAPER QUOTATION: None.

HYPOTHESIS: Same as Plate B (also C & D).


PLATE: F

DESCRIPTION: An exposed plate with no identifiable image. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 7/16 inches (5 x 6.2 cm).


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "F"
(Writer's collection.)

WRITTEN ON BACK: "X". Same as Plate D (and E).

POSSIBLE LENS: ?

DRAPER QUOTATION: None.

HYPOTHESIS: Same as Plate B (also C, D, & E).


PLATE: G

DESCRIPTION: An exposed plate with no identifiable image. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 7/16 inches (5 x 6.2 cm).


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "G"
(Writer's collection.)

WRITTEN ON BACK: "X". Same as Plate D (also E & F).

"Milton". The significance of this name is unknown. Possible hypotheses include: Lens maker. Method of plate preparation. Taker of Plate. Subject of Plate. Considering everything, it most likely referred to another subject previously recorded upon the plate. The plate appears reused as was the common practice.

POSSIBLE LENS: ?

DRAPER QUOTATION: None.

HYPOTHESIS: Same as Plate B (also C, D, E, & F).


PLATE: H

DESCRIPTION: Man in a chair, holding pen, sitting in a garden or greenhouse. The image is reversed left to right. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 7/16 inches (5 x 6.2 cm).


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "H"
(Writer's collection.)

WRITTEN ON BACK: "Spencer". The significance of this name is unknown. Possible hypotheses include: Lens maker. Method of plate preparation. Taker of Plate. Subject of Plate. Considering everything, it most likely referred to another subject previously recorded upon the plate. The plate appears reused as was the common practice.

POSSIBLE LENS: This image was probably made with the standard achromatic camera obscura lens as specified in Daguerre's manual, a lens stopped down to a one-inch aperture and focal length of fifteen inches (about f 15). Such a lens might provide good depth of field but would not allow a photographer to get close to his subject.

The lens specified in Daguerre's manual would take exactly plate H style--distant, full-length outdoor photos of people sitting very still. The distance and time required (possibly ten to twenty minutes) allowed only poor resolution of facial detail.

This was the type of lens used by Morse and most other early practitioners who lacked detailed knowledge of optics and lens systems. Other similarly posed images are known, probably taken with an identical lens system--two by Morse of his daughter and friends and one of John McAllister, Jr. of Philadelphia.[113] Possibly the only men in America who were not initially restricted to using a lens of this type were--Wolcott/Johnson, Cornelius/Goddard, and Draper/Goode.

DRAPER QUOTATION: None.
HYPOTHESIS: This plate is possibly a portrait of Dr. John William Draper. It compares favorably with his face and figure as delineated in later photographs. Since it is a distant portrait, not enough visual evidence exists to make a positive identification. Additional support for this supposition comes from the juxtaposition of Draper and the suspected subjects of other images from the plate box in the place and time of history that was New York University in fall 1839.

It is possible that the man who took this photograph was none other than Samuel F. B. Morse. As already explained, Morse's first attempts at portraiture would have been limited to exactly such a lens system. His presence during at least some of the production of these plate box images can be infe/rred from visual evidence in another plate (plate J). It is rational that Morse and Draper could have demonstrated their photographic capabilities for each other during the first few weeks of daguerreian experimentation at New York University.


PLATE: I
DESCRIPTION: Man standing outdoors with eyes closed or squinting from sunlight almost directly overhead. Shape of a distant building (church?) behind subject. The image is reversed left to right. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 7/16 inches (5 x 6.2 cm).


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "I"
(Writer's collection.)

WRITTEN ON BACK: "Milton". The significance of this name is unknown. Possible hypotheses include: Lens maker. Method of plate preparation. Taker of Plate. Subject of Plate (though unlikely because a different subject in plate J also has the same name written on the back). Considering everything, "Milton" may have referred to a different, previously recorded subject. The plate appears reused as was the common practice.
POSSIBLE LENS: This image was possibly taken with the lens John Draper describes second in his sequence of lens experiments to capture a likeness of the human face. Specifically, a lens of four inches aperture, with focal length of fourteen inches (about f 3.5). When used outdoors in bright sunlight, this lens might provide enough depth of field to capture sharp detail in an area as wide as the human figure.

Such a lens however, when making a relatively short exposure in bright sunlight, might not be able to clearly delineate the vast range between bright and shadowed portions of the photograph. Setting a camera with an exposure meter reading brightly lit portions of a scene would have similar result--shadowed portions would not be clearly delineated. Exactly this result is evident in plate I. Draper's article written in spring 1840 about fall 1839 experiments, describes the limitation of such a lens, and appears to exactly match the visual evidence found in this photograph (see quotation below).

DRAPER QUOTATION: (highlights are mine)
[a] lens of four inches . . . in the open air, in a period varying . . . from 20 to 90 seconds. The dress also is admirably given, even if it should be black; the slight differences of illumination are sufficient to . . . show each button, button-hole, and every fold
the intensity of such light . . . cannot be endured without a distortion of the features . . . the rays descend at too great an angle, such pictures have the disadvantage of not exhibiting the eyes with distinctness, the shadow from the eyebrows and forehead encroaching on them . . . and a slight shadow cast from the nose.[114]
HYPOTHESIS: This plate is possibly a portrait of Theodore Frelinghuysen, President of the University of the City of New York. In 1844 Henry Clay and Theodore Frelinghuysen ran for President and Vice President of the United States. The features of the man in plate I compare favorably with Frelinghuysen's face as evinced in later photographs. They share distinctive characteristics, especially around the chin.

Additional support for this supposition comes from the juxtaposition of Frelinghuysen and the suspected subjects of some of the other plate box images at New York University in fall 1839.

As newly appointed chancellor Frelinghuysen would have predictably taken interest in (and been a very logical subject for) fascinating experiments unfolding in the laboratory of his chemistry professor, recently arrived from Virginia. There was plenty of opportunity for visitation in Draper's lab because for two weeks after the 20 September arrival of Daguerre's procedure, students were not in attendance at the university.

Many years later Draper described taking "a very good" portrait of Frelinghuysen.[115] Although he probably referred to a later product of the spring/summer 1840 gallery shared with Morse, there may have been earlier, less successful attempts. Besides the above quotation, Draper recorded little information concerning his "first" experimentation during early fall 1839.


PLATE: J

DESCRIPTION: Man standing indoors in front of an open window partially filled with a rectangular blue stain of solarization. His eyes were open and clearly delineated though he squinted as if gazing into bright (but obviously somehow diffused) sunlight. A fulcrum of hand and elbow tightly braced the subject's chin. The image is reversed left to right. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 7/16 inches (5 x 6.2 cm).


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "J"
(Writer's collection.)

WRITTEN ON BACK: "Milton". The significance of this name is unknown. For possible hypotheses see Plate I.

POSSIBLE LENS: This image was possibly taken with the lens John William Draper describes second in his sequence of lens experiments to capture a likeness of the human face. Specifically, a lens of four inches aperture, with focal length of fourteen inches (about f 3.5). When used indoors in diffused light, even with a long exposure of five to seven minutes, such a lens would probably provide only a narrow depth of field. The sharpness of this depth of field could be distorted further if the lens was uncorrected for chromatic aberration (non-achromatic).

Focusing enough intensity of light on the face to clearly delineate the eyes and yet not blind the sitter was a difficult problem. Few individuals in 1839 America could have surmounted such obstacles to accomplish this distinctive, eyes-open indoor likeness of the human face. Just enough depth of field captured sharp detail from blurred nose tip to hazy ear.

In his own words Dr. Draper described the method he used to accomplish such a true portrait. Notice that his description of potential defects of operation exactly corresponds with visual evidence within this image (the blue stain).
DRAPER QUOTATION: (highlights are mine)
The point of maximum intensity for Daguerre's ray, lies within it [the refrangible spectrum] in the region of the blue. . . . Suppose, therefore, a plate be exposed in the camera during the space of five minutes, . . . if the focus has been adjusted to the focus for blue light, a neat picture may be obtained . . . whilst the red and violet rays will not have had time to give any perceptible effect. Upon these principles, I found that very sharp pictures might be obtained . . . by means of lenses of . . . four inches aperture.[116]
portraits can be obtained in the course of five or seven minutes, in the diffused daylight [indoors]
But in the reflected sunshine, the eye cannot support the effulgence of rays. It is therefore absolutely necessary to pass them through some blue medium, which shall abstract from them their heat, and . . . offensive brilliancy. I have used for this purpose blue glass, . . . to permit the eye to bear the light, and yet to intercept no more than was necessary. It is not requisite, when colored glass is employed, to make use of a large surface; for if the camera operation be carried on until the proof almost solarizes, no traces can be seen in the portrait of its edges and boundaries; but if the process is stopped at an earlier interval, there will commonly be found a stain, corresponding to the figure of the glass.[117]
The risk of failure by employing an uncorrected lens, is greater than the risk by a good achromatic.[118]
HYPOTHESIS: This plate is possibly a portrait of Professor Samuel Finley Breese Morse taken by Dr. John William Draper about the first week of October 1839. It compares favorably with Morse's face as evinced in later photographs. Morse had distinctive features. Under magnification and close examination several of the lines around the eyes and forehead captured in the extremely narrow depth of field of this daguerreotype appear to match facial lines in later photographs of Morse. The depth of field in the daguerreotype is mere inches.

Additional support for this supposition comes from the juxtaposition of Morse and the suspected subjects of some of the other plate box images at New York University in fall 1839. Historical evidence documents Morse and Draper experimenting separately during late September and early October in their respective rooms of the New York University building. It is reasonable to assume at least some tentative interaction concerning their respective progress.

Morse could not have equaled Draper's optical expertise to solve limitations of Daguerre's process. In November 1839 the discouraged art professor wrote to Daguerre, requesting his help to obtain a better lens. Draper's superior lens system possibly prompted Morse's letter. The two men evidently did not work together closely during the fall because as late as January 1840 Morse was apparently unaware of Draper's important technique of adjusting his camera to the chemical focus.

Shortly before his death in 1872 Morse acknowledged that Draper accomplished the first portrait "with eyes open."[119] Was he recalling some shadowy memory of this image of himself?

Apparently to Draper's super-critical eye, all images in this plate box were somehow flawed. They were likely retained not as best products accomplished, but as examples of defects. Draper's best portraits probably came out on his best plates. Such plates would have been reused to save inconvenient delay and expense in the progress of experimentation. Draper, Morse, and all other early daguerreian experimenters never considered their first experiments significant. All their documentation and memory concentrated upon achievement of the first successful and practical methods of portraiture perfected in spring 1840 gallery products.

The solarized blue stain in the daguerreotype fits Draper's description of a less-than window size piece of blue glass he recommended. Close examination of the image reveals what could be pieces of wood or other material attached along the edge of the blue rectangle (rounded nail or bolt-like objects are visible). One of these attached objects is rectangular and the other is roughly triangular. They could be the support holding Draper's blue glass in its proper position within the window.

Perhaps the most important evidence supporting the idea this portrait depicts Samuel Morse lies hidden in an unidentified portrait in the Draper collection at the Smithsonian Institute.[120] The man depicted in the Smithsonian image appears to be the same individual in the plate-box image J:

--The historical record shows that Morse had grey hair in October 1839.[121] Only one year later (the probable approximate date of the Smithsonian portrait) Morse recorded that his hair was turning white.[122]

--Besides the year's passage, exposure time might account for most difference between these images. The 1839 exposure lasted five to seven minutes and required the subject's face hard-braced upon his hand. The 1840 exposure lasted ten seconds or less with unpropped face loose and natural.

--The earlier exposure required squinting into mirror reflected sunlight. Even filtered through blue glass, such light would pain human eyes. The outdoor 1840 exposure required only indirect sunlight and little squinting.

--Morse possibly wore the identical coat with cleft cuffs in each daguerreotype.

The same man possibly appears in this early daguerreotype from the Smithsonian's Draper collection and in the plate box which otherwise has (as yet) no definitive link of provenance to Draper. This visual evidence in conjunction with the web of other coincidental evidence proceeds as far toward absolute proof as investigation is likely to reach without forensic study.


PLATE: K

DESCRIPTION: Plate K depicts a man sitting indoors. There is no squint to his expression and the lens system projects adequate depth of field for a portrait (especially in comparison to plate J). The image is reversed left to right. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 3/8 inches (5 x 6 cm). The subject's eyes are open and clearly delineated with a bright spot of (mirror) reflected light in the corneas. This large, pupil-obliterating spot of light is found in other known portraits where the operator used an early system of mirror-reflected filtered sunlight as illumination (see early images from the Cornelius gallery of Philadelphia).[123] This plate appears to be slightly shorter than the other plates in the box. It was apparently cut out of the edge of a rolled silver-plated copper sheet rather than from the interior.


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "K"
(Writer's collection.)

WRITTEN ON BACK: Nothing.

POSSIBLE LENS: Draper may have taken this image with at least a prototype of the lens he perfected for the operation of his spring 1840 gallery operated jointly with Professor Morse. Draper described the lens system as two bi-convex nonachromatic lenses set together, each lens of sixteen inches focal length (eight inches when set together) and four inches aperture. This image may represent an example of Draper's product before he switched to using a French achromatic lens. The system was apparently developed from his earlier fall 1839 experiments with one four inch aperture biconvex lens of fourteen inches focal length.

Draper's spring 1840 apparatus allowed him to take as advanced a portrait as anyone in the world. If plate K was made with such a lens, it pre-dated standardization of posing and background that apparently characterized Draper's gallery products after April 1840.

After viewing Wolcott's product in February 1840 Morse sought Draper's help in developing a lens system for practical commercial portraiture. Draper accomplished this challenge and from April through the summer of 1840 joined his artistic colleague in operation of a gallery on the university rooftop. Draper quit the venture after school reopened. Morse relocated the gallery to the top of his brother's newspaper building.
DRAPER QUOTATION:
The camera I have used, though much better ones might be constructed, has for its objective two double convex lenses, the united focus of which for parallel rays is only eight inches; they are four inches in diameter in the clear, and are mounted in a barrel, in front of which the aperture is narrowed down to 3 inches, after the manner of Daguerre's.[124]
HYPOTHESIS: This image is possibly an early nonachromatic lens example of the finished portrait technique John Draper developed for his spring 1840 gallery operation. Plate K possibly depicts Professor Martyn Paine, Dr. Draper's colleague at the University of the City of New York. There is some visual resemblance to later engravings of Paine.


PLATE: L

DESCRIPTION: A man sitting indoors. His eyes were open and clearly delineated with the same bright spot of (mirror) reflected light in the corneas. This large pupil-obliterating spot of light is found in other known portraits where the operator used an early system of mirror-reflected filtered sunlight as illumination (see early images from the Cornelius gallery of Philadelphia).[125] There is no squint to his expression and the lens system projects adequate depth of field for a portrait. The image is reversed left to right. The thick, rolled silver-plated copper plate measures about 2 x 2 7/16 inches (5 x 6.2 cm).

The subject's hands are folded in front with elbows resting upon arms of what is likely a Windsor chair. There are distinctive aspects of the gallery setting visible in the image--a rounded object (chair rail?) behind the sitter and what appears to be the edge of a window sill. The subject looks out a window or opening which admits much light.

This image was found beside the plate box but was not itself inside. It is mounted behind brass mat and glass in an early leather miniature case. The brass mat is stamped 1-GUY on the reverse.


Ninth-plate daguerreotype Plate "L"
(Writer's collection.)

WRITTEN ON BACK: Nothing.

POSSIBLE LENS: Plate L may represent an example of the finished portrait technique John William Draper developed for his spring 1840 gallery operated jointly with Professor Morse. It could represent one of two lens systems.

Draper described his first gallery lens system as two bi-convex nonachromatic lenses set together, each lens being of sixteen inches focal length (eight inches when set together) and four inches aperture. This system was apparently developed from his earlier fall 1839 experiments with one four inch aperture biconvex lens of fourteen inches focal length. Perfected by early spring 1840, this lens system allowed Draper to take as advanced a portrait as anyone in the world. Draper possibly produced the image on plate L using the same lens system as he used for plate K, but used improved techniques of posing, etc.

Alternately, Draper stated that gallery operations with Professor Morse were first conducted using his four-inch nonachromatic system but later utilized French achromatic lenses. Superior contrast and depth of field in the image on plate L when compared to the image on plate K suggest the possibility that Draper used a French achromatic lens to produce plate L.

The possibility that Draper used a French achromatic is lessened however, by information in Draper's letter to Sir John Herschel. Draper clearly described taking the daguerreotype of his sister with a nonachromatic lens system. Since the Dorothy Catherine Draper daguerreotype shows no inferiority to plate L, both may be products of Draper's nonachromatic lens system.
DRAPER QUOTATION: (highlights are mine)
The camera I have used, though much better ones might be constructed, has for its objective two double convex lenses, the united focus of which for parallel rays is only eight inches; they are four inches in diameter in the clear, and are mounted in a barrel, in front of which the aperture is narrowed down to 3 inches, after the manner of Daguerre's.
The chair in which the sitter is placed, has a staff at the back, terminating in an iron ring, that supports the head . . . By simply resting the back or side of the head against this ring, it may be kept sufficiently still to allow the minutest marks on the face to be copied. The hands should never rest upon the chest, for the motion of respiration disturbs them so much, as to bring them out of a thick and clumsy appearance, destroying also the representation of the veins on the back, which, if they are held motionless, are copied with surprising beauty. . . .
an arrangement in which the light is thrown upon the face at a small angle. . . . also allows us to get rid entirely of the shadow from the back-ground . . . the chair should be brought forward from the back-ground, from three to six feet. . . .
Those who undertake Daguerreotype portraitures, will of course arrange the back-grounds of their pictures according to their own tastes. When one that is quite uniform is desired, a blanket, or a cloth of a drab colour, properly suspended, will be found to answer very well. . . .
Different parts of the dress . . . require intervals, differing considerably, to be fairly copied; . . . Precautions of the same kind are necessary in ladies, dresses, which should not be selected of tints contrasting strongly. . . .
the whole art of taking daguerreotype miniatures, consists in directing an almost horizontal beam of light, through a blue coloured medium, upon the face of the sitter, who is retained in an unconstrained posture, by an appropriate but simple mechanism, at such a distance from the back-ground, or so arranged with respect to the camera, that his shadow shall not be copied as a part of his body; the aperture of the camera should be three and a half or four inches at least, indeed the larger the better, if the object be aplanatic. . . .
If two mirrors be made use of, the time actually occupied for the camera operation varies from forty seconds to two minutes, according to the intensity of the light. If only one mirror is employed, the time is about one-fourth shorter. In the direct sunshine, and out in the open air, the time varies from under half a minute. . . .
Miniatures procured in the manner here laid down, are in most cases striking likenesses, through not in all. They give of course all the individual peculiarities, a mole, a freckle, a wart. . . . The eye appears beautifully; the iris with sharpness, and the white dot of light upon it, with such strength and so much of reality and life, as to surprise those who have never before seen it. Many are persuaded, that the pencil of the painter has been secretly employed to give this finishing touch.[126]
Elsewhere, Draper wrote:
About this time I became acquainted with Prof. Morse and we subsequently had a building on the top of the University in which we took many portraits, at first with my four inch lens, and then with a French achromatic.[127]
HYPOTHESIS: This image is possibly an example of the finished portrait technique John William Draper developed for his spring 1840 gallery operation. There are presently two sources of evidence for this. Details of plate L fit Draper's description as quoted above, and so does the Doctor's famous portrait of his sister Dorothy Catherine Draper.

The Dorothy Catherine daguerreotype taken in spring or summer of 1840 shares several striking similarities to plate L. The arrangement of the folded hands held in front of the body is similar. Elbows in both images appear to rest upon the arms of what is likely a Windsor chair. The distinctively rounded object and window sill also appear to be aspects of the gallery setting visible in Dorothy Catherine's image.

Further evidence that both images perhaps represent standardized products of Morse and Draper's gallery comes from visual evidence within the portrait in the Draper collection at the Smithsonian Institution. This outdoor image was probably taken with a completely different lens system from either plate L or the Dorothy Catherine Draper daguerreotype. Nevertheless, strong similarities of technique are visible. Clasped hands are held away from the body ("The hands should never rest upon the chest, for the motion of respiration disturbs them."). Fully visible in the Smithsonian image is possibly the same chair or style of chair used to prop elbows in both plate L and the Dorothy Catherine photographs.

Extant images in other collections may come to light to further substantiate that these elements characterized a standardized product from Morse and Draper's spring 1840 gallery.

The subject depicted in plate L is currently unidentified. Since the image was the only one encased, it may depict the "collector" of the plate box images.


PLATE: M

DESCRIPTION: Quarter-plate daguerreotype mounted behind paper mat and glass in an early top-opening miniature case. The thick plate measures about 3 3/16 x 3 15/16 inches (8 x 10 cm). Three young people--a man and two women--stand posed tightly together. The eyes of the man and one woman are partly or tightly closed. The eyes of the woman in the middle remain open though apparently under stress.

The image shows evidence of tinting. It is probably reversed left to right. There is an odd arrangement of draped clothing between the man and one woman. A crude curtain or blanket serves as backdrop.

This image was not found with the plate box images. It was found over twenty years ago in a Lynchburg, Virginia antique shop with no provenance of any kind.


Quarter-plate daguerreotype Plate "M"
(Writer's collection.)

WRITTEN ON BACK: Nothing..

POSSIBLE LENS: To advance an admittedly highly speculative hypothesis--this image could be an example of a missing link in Dr. Draper's lens sequence. Evidently from 23 September to 7 October 1839 Draper first experimented with a lens of five inches diameter, then four inches diameter (and possibly three inches diameter) for portraiture. After 7 October Draper probably halted experimentation when classes started at New York University. He had not yet accomplished a portrait that satisfied him as a successful and practical product. All results up to this time posed problem either in result or in easy manipulation.

Draper was not satisfied with his portrait technique until December when he perfected (except for defects about the eyes caused by intensity of direct sunlight) the outdoor use of a one-inch lens. "The first portrait I obtained last December was with a common spectacle glass, only an inch in diameter, arranged at the end of a cigar box."[128] (It had a focal length of fourteen inches). With this achievement Draper apparently dropped work on portraiture until Morse approached him after viewing Wolcott's commercialized gallery product in February 1840.

Every major lens system Draper utilized for portrait experiment appears to be represented within the plate box except an example of Draper's successful December portrait with the one-inch lens. Why was no such example included in the plate box? The answer may lie in the characteristics of such a portrait as described by Draper: "A lens of this diameter answers very well for plates four inches by three."[129] Such a quarter-size plate could not fit inside the smaller plate box.

DRAPER QUOTATION: See above.

HYPOTHESIS: The following circumstantial evidence supports the admittedly highly speculative hypothesis that this quarter-plate daguerreotype could be an example of Dr. Draper's December portraiture with a one-inch spectacle lens.

1--Draper described all the proofs he obtained with this camera system as "defective about the eyes" owing to the difficulty of posing in open sunshine. Plate M is indeed defective about the eyes.[130]

Draper further noted: "Those who undertake Daguerreotype portraitures, will of course arrange the back-grounds of their pictures according to their own tastes. When one that is quite uniform is desired, a blanket, or a cloth of a drab colour, properly suspended, will be found to answer very well. . . . Different parts of the dress, . . . require intervals, differing considerably, to be fairly copied."[131]

The backdrop of the image fits. More importantly, purposeful arrangement of the draped white cloth between the man and woman (this drape is pinned to the dress of the woman in the center and is not part of her clothing) appears to create the interval called for in the above quotation.[132] Without such intervals the camera focus might over or under-expose dark or light parts of the picture.



Quarter-plate daguerreotype Plate "M"
(Writer's collection.).


Finally, Draper wrote (brackets mine): "In this instance, . . . owing to magnitude of focal length compared with the aperture, but little difficulty ensues from chromatic aberration [an indistinct, hazy appearance]; but when with the same focal length [fourteen inches] the aperture is increased to three or four inches, then the dispersion becomes very sensible."[133]

Draper possibly meant that his one-inch lens solved depth of field problems with lenses of larger aperture (the term "depth of field" was not yet available to define the phenomena that Draper was trying to describe). The one-inch lens captured a sharp representation across the entire field of the portrait. Plate M appears to demonstrate this adequate depth of field. From the backdrop to the hands of the three people photographed, everything was in good focus.

2--At first, the recovery of this image in Lynchburg, Virginia appears to rule out the possibility it was made by Dr. Draper in far distant New York City. Actually there are several reasons why an early Draper image could have been found in central Virginia.

John William Draper and his sister Dorothy Catherine--possibly another sister, Elizabeth Johnson Draper--and his assistant, William Henry Goode all arrived in New York City in September 1839 from south central Virginia. William Henry Goode's married sister lived north of Lynchburg. At Hampden Sydney College near Farmville (southeast of Lynchburg), John Draper left behind another sister, his wife's brother, and his wife, who on 26 December 1839 gave birth to their first daughter, Virginia. Draper was likely unable to return to Hampden Sydney during the short Christmas break and his wife was unable to travel to New York with the newborn child.

By late December in New York City Draper and Goode achieved what they considered to be successful and practical portraits. With the ability to easily take such portraits and separated from loved family far away in Virginia, Draper or Goode conceivably sent what may well have been the first such token through the mail. All exterior details of Plate M's construction and casing could conceivably date to ecember 1839.

3--It is surprising to find such an early portrait hand colored. Coloration would be rational if the image were destined for loved ones far distant and totally unfamiliar with photographic reality. Dorothy Catherine Draper was an artist and art teacher in England and Virginia. Into the 1850s she colored plates for John's scientific books. Her hand conceivably added the touches of color to this image.

4--Including the Frelinghuysen portrait (plate I) in the plate box, this quarter-plate is one of extremely few images in existence which depict subjects with eyes closed from light intensity (the only other eyes-closed image definitely known to the writer is the self portrait of Henry Fitz in the Smithsonian Institution). Plate M appears extremely early. It demonstrates a radically different technique from these other two known examples of images with closed eyes. It apparently fits all recorded characteristics of Dr. Draper's December 1839 method and product. Draper may well have been the only man in the world who could have produced such a technologically sophisticated product at such an early date. Certainly there are odds against all these factors being merely circumstantial.

5--When all of these facts are taken into account, the resemblance of the girl in the middle of plate M to Dorothy Catherine Draper becomes very intriguing.[134*]



On left are three detailed closeups of the quarter-plate daguerreotype Plate "M" (Writer's collection.). On right are the Dorothy Catherine Draper daguerreotype in an 1893 artotype copy (Kansas State Historical Society), detail; and William Henry Goode G. Brown Goode(Virginia Cousins , Richmond, Virginia, J. W. Randolph & English, 1887), detail.
 There is only one known photograph (ca.1880s) of William Henry Goode.[135] No part of Goode's bearded face in the 1880s portrait appears to rule out the possibility that it could be the same face as the young man in the early quarter-plate daguerreotype. The strange puff of hair in the daguerreotype matches the way Goode's hair juts out in the 1880s photograph.

Speculatively, the other young woman in the quarter-plate could be Elizabeth Johnson Draper. No positively identified photograph of her has yet been located by the writer. This young woman could also be someone else entirely.



The intriguing possibilities inherent in this image invite further research. The truth may never be known without detailed forensic examination.




Click on image for a close up comparison of the eyes in both photos.
On left is detail of quarter-plate daguerreotype Plate "M" (reversal of the original daguerreotype is corrected), (Writer's collection.). On right is detail of the Dorothy Catherine Draper daguerreotype in an 1893 artotype copy (Kansas State Historical Society), detail.


LIKENESS
an essay on the SYNCHRONICITY
surrounding the plate box of early daguerreotypes

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