In this talk, Dr. Smiley will discuss American daguerreotype portraiture, its uses as both as a scientific instrument and as a means of picturing loved ones, as well as the photographic portrait as a medium of democratic participation, particularly for African American, Asian, and women subjects. Smiley will explore how nineteenth-century photographic portrait studios shaped conceptions of “self” and “other” and the sometimes-unlikely places where we may uncover these visual histories in museums and archival collections.

This talk is presented with additional support from Dinse.

Samuel Broadbent, [Portrait of an Unidentified African American Woman], ca. 1850. Library Company of Philadelphia

---

Michelle Smiley is a historian of nineteenth-century photography and American science. Her research examines the history of the daguerreotype in the antebellum United States, and how the objects and processes of photography came to be viewed as democratic media.

---

Explore the rest of the “Elephant in the Room” series here.

The “Elephant in the Room” lecture series is presented with support from Vermont Humanities.