This beautiful daguerreotype by Boston-area photographer George K.
Portrait of Dorothy Catherine Draper
Grade Range: K-12
Resource Type(s): Artifacts, Primary Sources
Date Posted:
3/10/2009
Believed to be the first photographic portrait made in the United States, this portrait of Dorothy Catherine Draper was originally taken by her brother Dr. John W. Draper (1811-1882) in his Washington Square studio at the New York University in 1839 or 1840, within the first year of Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre's announcement in Paris of his invention of the daguerreotype process. Identified as a copy daguerreotype, this reproduction was made by Draper's son Daniel when the original was displayed at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. The original daguerreotype was damaged during an attempt at restoration early in the 1930s.
National Standards
United States History Standards (Grades 5-12)
Era 4: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861)
1: United States territorial expansion between 1801 and 1861, and how it affected relations with external powers and Native Americans
2: How the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed the lives of Americans and led toward regional tensions
3: The extension, restriction, and reorganization of political democracy after 1800
4: The sources and character of cultural, religious, and social reform movements in the antebellum period
2: How the industrial revolution, increasing immigration, the rapid expansion of slavery, and the westward movement changed the lives of Americans and led toward regional tensions
3: The extension, restriction, and reorganization of political democracy after 1800
4: The sources and character of cultural, religious, and social reform movements in the antebellum period
