Le Mort and Unidentified

Unidentified Girl.
By Southworth & Hawes dated circa 1850, medium daguerreotype, whole plate; 21.5 x 16.5 cm,
accession number: 1974:0193:0059.

Here are a few lovely public domain photos from the George Eastman House Photography Collection with no known copyright restrictions. They are from the era of long duration photographs, namely daguerreotypes, and they can be in many ways technically superior to "snapshots". While the daguerreotype was not the first photographic process to be invented, earlier processes required hours for successful exposure, which made the daguerreotype the first commercially viable photographic process.

The daguerreotype is named after one of its inventors, French artist and chemist Louis J.M. Daguerre, who announced its perfection in 1839 after years of research, applying and extending a discovery by Johann Heinrich Schultz (1724): a silver and chalk mixture darkens when exposed to light.

Instead of Daguerre obtaining a French patent, the French government provided a pension for him. On 19 August 1839, the French government announced the invention as a gift "Free to the World".

Daguerreotypes must collect light in long exposures. The clearness and depth of the field is amazing, but smiles were not encouraged because it is really hard to maintain a smile or other active expressions for the length of time it took to get the picture. Losing control of your expression would spoil the picture, at great cost.

Unidentified Bride. She is very pretty, with intelligent eyes.
By Southworth & Hawes dated circa 1850, medium daguerreotype, whole plate; 21.5 x 16.5 cm,
accession number: 1974:0193:0137.

Unidentified Bride. The style of the dress speaks to being an heirloom.
By Southworth & Hawes dated circa 1850, medium daguerreotype, whole plate; 21.5 x 16.5 cm,
accession number: 1974:0193:0251.

Post-mortem, unidentified young girl. She looks peacefully as she is only napping. It looks a little too natural for a post-mortem image. Beautiful, sad, unforgettable.
By Southworth & Hawes, dated circa 1850, medium daguerreotype, whole plate, 16.5 X 21.5 cm, accession number: 1974:0193:0130.