[Edward Tompkins Whitney]
Photograph
[Edward Tompkins Whitney]
ca. 1850
Daguerreotype
Image: 8.2 x 7 cm (1/6 plate)
Museum accession by exchange
2002.3440.0001
Inscriptions (note included with this image, black marking pen on yellow lined paper): Whitney, Edward Tompkins / born N.Y.C. 1820 / Jeweler / taught Photog. by M.M. Lawrence, 1844 / to Rochester 1845 / partner of Mercer 1845-48 / own gallery 1849-1851 / partner of Conrad Denny / 1852-1854 / Children were always / a problem, for they would not sit still / E.T. Whitney, Roch, N.Y. found a way to trick / them into periods of / immobility long enough / to allow an exposure / of sorts to be made. / "I use, with good success" / he wrote in 1855 / "a little Toy Bird that I make sing inside / the camera, occasionally showing a part of it to attract attention / to the instrument. / The Daguerreotype in America Beaumont Newhall p 124 / Photography and the American Scene - Robert Taft
