The slave daguerreotypes of the Peabody Museum: Scientific meaning and utility

Abstract

This paper examines a group of daguerreotypes depicting South Carolina slaves. The studies were commissioned by the naturalist Louis Agassiz and made by the photographer Joseph T. Zealy in 1850. The visual conventions evident in the images, of portraiture and scientific illustration, impart conflicting meanings simultaneously, one suggestive of individuality, the other of generic type. The author correlates this ambiguity with the evolving status of anthropological science in mid-nineteenth century America.

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