Albert Southworth
Encyclopedia
Albert Sands Southworth (1811–1894) operated Southworth & Hawes
daguerreotype
studio with Josiah Johnson Hawes
(1808–1901) from 1843 to 1863.
, author Harriet Beecher Stowe
, and reformer Dorothea Dix
were among the duo's more prominent clients, but they also photographed local businessmen, society ladies, and other Boston-area citizens.
Southworth & Hawes were not alone: Masury
& Silsby, and also John Adams Whipple
were prominent Boston daguerreotypists. Whipple's and Southworth & Hawes's operations were the largest in Boston, and were outshone in America (after 1853) only by the New York studios of Mathew Brady
and M.M. Lawrence.
In what could perhaps be called the ancestor of the View-master
, Southworth & Hawes invented a "grand parlor stereoscope", which allowed viewers to be presented with new daguerreotype views with the turn of a crank. Southworth & Hawes had one of these devices in the reception room of their gallery for the entertainment of their customers.
After wet-process plate printing came into vogue, Southworth also invented a device in 1855 that allowed up to eight exposures of the same sitter to be made in just two sequential exposures: by exposing half of a whole plate with a special four-lensed set of tubes, then moving the other half of the plate into place, the other half of the plate was then exposed.
Southworth & Hawes
Southworth & Hawes was an early photographic firm in Boston, 1843-1863. Its partners, Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes , have been hailed as the first great American masters of photography, whose work elevated photographic portraits to the level of fine art...
daguerreotype
Daguerreotype
The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process. The image is a direct positive made in the camera on a silvered copper plate....
studio with Josiah Johnson Hawes
Josiah Johnson Hawes
Josiah Johnson Hawes was a photographer in Boston, Massachusetts. He and Albert Southworth established the photography studio of Southworth & Hawes, which produced numerous portraits of exceptional quality in the 1840s-1860s.-Biography:...
(1808–1901) from 1843 to 1863.
Biography
Southworth was a student of Samuel F.B. Morse, who, in addition to his other more famous pursuits, was an avid daguerreotypist. The partnership's studio, located on the top floor of a Boston building, had enormous skylights to allow in copious amounts of light necessary for relatively "short" exposures of portraits of their subjects. While they worked in formats ranging from the more common locket-sized daguerreotype, up to a stereoscopic image (also gaining in popularity at the time), they specialized in "whole plate" images, an expensive size which measured 6½ × 8½ inches (16.5 × 21.6 cm)—rather large for a daguerreotype. Lawmaker Daniel WebsterDaniel Webster
Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...
, author Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe was an American abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom...
, and reformer Dorothea Dix
Dorothea Dix
Dorothea Lynde Dix was an American activist on behalf of the indigent insane who, through a vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums...
were among the duo's more prominent clients, but they also photographed local businessmen, society ladies, and other Boston-area citizens.
Southworth & Hawes were not alone: Masury
Samuel Masury
Samuel Masury was a photographer in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts.-Biography:Masury trained with photographer John Plumbe in Boston, ca.1842.In 1853-1855 he and G.M...
& Silsby, and also John Adams Whipple
John Adams Whipple
John Adams Whipple was an American inventor and early photographer. He was the first in the United States to manufacture the chemicals used for daguerreotypes; he pioneered astronomical and night photography; he was a prize-winner for his extraordinary early photographs of the moon; and he was the...
were prominent Boston daguerreotypists. Whipple's and Southworth & Hawes's operations were the largest in Boston, and were outshone in America (after 1853) only by the New York studios of Mathew Brady
Mathew Brady
Mathew B. Brady was one of the most celebrated 19th century American photographers, best known for his portraits of celebrities and his documentation of the American Civil War...
and M.M. Lawrence.
In what could perhaps be called the ancestor of the View-master
View-Master
View-Master is a device for viewing seven 3-D images on a paper disk. Although the View-Master is now considered a children's toy, it was originally marketed as a way for viewers to enjoy stereograms of colorful and picturesque tourist attractions.-1939–66: stereoscopic sightseeing:In 1911,...
, Southworth & Hawes invented a "grand parlor stereoscope", which allowed viewers to be presented with new daguerreotype views with the turn of a crank. Southworth & Hawes had one of these devices in the reception room of their gallery for the entertainment of their customers.
After wet-process plate printing came into vogue, Southworth also invented a device in 1855 that allowed up to eight exposures of the same sitter to be made in just two sequential exposures: by exposing half of a whole plate with a special four-lensed set of tubes, then moving the other half of the plate into place, the other half of the plate was then exposed.