PRESENTATION NOTE

Southworth & Hawes preserved most of the daguerreotype plates in this exhibition through group storage in special metal containers. Thus, few have the original period presentation framing or casing, which many give evidence of having once had.

An effort has been made to present the daguerreotypes as Southworth & Hawes would have done in their exhibition room. Based upon business invoices and the few surviving examples of their framed works, matting and frames have been created exactly as they would have been originally fashioned. The reproduction mats are by Alan A. Bekhuis of CasedImage.com. Arnold VanDenburgh of A.J. VanDenburgh Wood Products created the frames that reproduce those used by Southworth & Hawes. Both worked with great effort and skill to effectively match the originals.

To properly illuminate the daguerreotypes to present them as originally seen would require strong natural light directed upon the plate from a horizontal source, in an otherwise dimly illuminated environment. Conservation concerns, of course, limit the type, amount, and duration of light applied in this exhibition. Every effort has been made to provide illumination that allows viewing without reflection and allows appreciation of most, if not all, of the special beauties of the daguerreotype process that Southworth & Hawes masterfully commanded in creating a style of imagery all their own.