From 1845 to 1862, the Boston partnership of Albert Sands Southworth and Josiah Johnson Hawes maintained the most celebrated photography studio in the United States. Taking as their subjects both the greatest personalities of the day and the natural spectacles of the American landscape, such as Niagara Falls, Southworth & Hawes elevated the new medium of daguerreotype photography to the level of art. Transcending the mere recording of factual detail, their daguerreotypes reflect a quintessentially American aesthetic and embody an emerging national culture and spirit. Young America will be the most significant publication to date on Southworth & Hawes, featuring full-scale color reproductions of all plates in the exhibition as well as 2,000 additional black-and-white illustrations. It will include a critical analysis of the historical and cultural importance of the work of Southworth & Hawes, with original texts by Brian Wallis, ICP Director of Exhibitions and Chief Curator, and Grant Romer, Director of the advanced program in Photography Conservation at George Eastman House, among other scholars. Appendices will include a chronology, an annotated bibliography, an exploration of the daguerreotype process, brief biographies of the sitters, and a Southworth & Hawes family genealogy, making the catalogue an invaluable resource for researchers as well as general readers. The book will include an annotated bibliography, exhibition checklist, and chronology. Essays by Brian Wallis, Grant Romer, Alan Trachtenberg, Wendy Wick Reaves and Sally Pierce. Hardcover, 10 x 12 in./356 pgs / 150 color and 2000 b&w.

From the Publisher

Cheryl Ann Lajos, Library Journal Accompanying an eponymous traveling exhibition and featuring more than 150 full-scale color plates from the show as well as nearly 2000 additional black-and-white reproductions, this beautifully and copiously illustrated book is a noteworthy publication on one of the most celebrated photography studios in the United States. Southworth & Hawes was the result of a partnership between pharmacist-turned-entrepreneur Albert Sands Southworth (1811-94) and itinerant portrait painter Josiah Johnson Hawes (1808-1901) that represented political activists, abolitionists, artists, writers, and other prominent Bostonians. In this comprehensive resource for general readers and researchers, editors Romer (director, photography conservation, George Eastman House) and Wallis (director of exhibitions and chief curator, International Center of Photography), as well as other distinguished contributors, address the historical and cultural significance of the studio. Also included are Southworth & Hawes’s portraits, techniques, display collections, account books, and family genealogy; a chronology; sitters’ biographies; an explanation of the Daguerrotype process; an exhibition checklist; and an annotated bibliography. This significant publication constitutes a worthy addition to large, public, special, and academic research libraries. Highly recommended. October 2005.