Figure084

Citation

Unknown Photographer Photographer. “two men.” circa 1845. Harvard Peabody Museum (T1889 35-5-10; 53059). Mirror of Race, 11 Feb. 2021, mirrorofrace.bc.edu/items/show/271. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

Title

two men

Subject

unknown

Creator

Unknown Photographer Photographer

Date

circa 1845

Type

studio portrait

Identifier

Figure084

Rights Holder

Harvard Peabody Museum (T1889 35-5-10; 53059)

Original Format

daguerreotype

Physical Dimensions

Ninth Plate (2 x 2.5 inches)

Factual Commentary

This early daguerreotype, dating from the mid-1840s, may have been collected by the Harvard naturalist Louis Agassiz as part of his ethnographic collection.

All that we know about the image is a caption written on a slip of paper from the period that identifies them as “two Hindoo men” ― with “Hindoo” being a spelling variant for “Hindu.” So, the two men, otherwise unidentified, were almost certainly visitors to the United States from India. The style of mat and case are American, and so the image was made here.

Interpretive Commentary

One reason to believe that Louis Agassiz collected this image for his ethnographic studies is that they are only identified by ethnicity as “two Hindoo [Hindu] men.” This identification treats them more as specimens than as people. We would expect a proper identification to give us their actual names, for example, but whoever collected this image thought the only relevant thing about them was their type.

Who were they? Travel from India to the United States would have been a very serious undertaking in the 1840s, requiring months, even years, and involving considerable risk from accident and illness. So why had they come so far? Such travel would have cost considerable money. Both hold themselves with a certain austere dignity; they are very well groomed and dressed in expensive and fashionable Western clothes, and so they were almost certainly wealthy, high-status individuals. Were they visiting dignitaries? Students? Indian nobility making a grand tour? We hope that further research may yield answers.

Alternative Title

Collection

Mirror of Race