Microphotograph

Description:

This is marked “No. 4. Spiracle of Insect. Copied from a Daguerreotype by Prof. J. W. Draper of New York.” The reference is to John William Draper (1811-1882), an English immigrant who did import work in several areas of science and medicine.

Visitors to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 might examine “a volume of 9 photographs (large quarto) copied at the Army Medical Museum from daguerreotypes of microscopical objects made by Professor Draper in 1850-’52.” According to an official account of this display, the “special interest attaching to these photographs is that the daguerreotypes were the first of microscopic objects made in America, and that they were made by Professor Draper by sunlight passed through a cell containing the ammonia-sulphate of copper; a method original with him which has since been found indispensable to success in photomicrography.”

Ref: Report of the Board on Behalf of the United States Executive Departments at the International Exhibition, Held at Philadelphia, Pa., 1876 (Washington, D.C., 1884), vol. 1, p. 229.

Date Made: 1850s, 1876

Maker: Draper, John William

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: New York, New York

Subject: ScienceRelated Event: Centennial Exposition

Subject:

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: John William Christopher Draper and James Christopher Draper

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: PH.334770Accession Number: 304826Catalog Number: 334770

Object Name: microphotograph

Physical Description: paper (overall material)Measurements: photo: 16 cm x 15.5 cm; 6 5/16 in x 6 3/32 inmount: 28 cm x 35 cm; 11 1/32 in x 13 25/32 inoverall: 14 in x 11 in; 35.56 cm x 27.94 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ae-7955-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1808284

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