Platt Babbitt Daguerreotype of Niagara Falls
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1850
notes: label: Description
content: This whole-plate hand-colored daguerreotype by Platt D. Babbitt shows tourists at Horseshoe Falls, Niagara Falls, New York, circa 1854-1870. Babbitt established himself as a professional photographer on the American side of Niagara Falls in 1853. He built a pavilion for his camera to take photographs of visiting groups, without the tourists' knowing. Babbitt finished his daguerreotypes, unique positive photographs made on silver-coated copper plates, and offered them for sale before groups left. He ran this lucrative business for almost two decades.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: New York, Niagara Falls
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Photographic History
label: See more items in
content: Photography
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Albert Boni
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PG.71.21.09
label: catalog number
content: 71.21.09
label: accession number
content: 299134
objectType: label: Object Name
content: daguerreotype
label: Object Name
content: photograph
label: Other Terms
content: photograph; Photograph; Daguerreotype
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: copper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 23 cm x 18 cm x 2 cm; 9 1/16 in x 7 1/16 in x 13/16 in