2019.37
Joshua Hovey, Shoemaker and Grocer, of Dracut and Lowell, Massachusetts
Artist
Artist Unidentified (American)
Title
Joshua Hovey, Shoemaker and Grocer, of Dracut and Lowell, Massachusetts
Creation Date
ca. 1847
Century
mid-19th century
Dimensions
3 3/4 x 3 1/4 x 1/2 in. (9.53 x 8.26 x 1.27 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
sixth-plate daguerreotype
Credit Line
Museum Purchase, Gridley W. Tarbell II Fund
Copyright
Public Domain
Accession Number
2019.37
Occupational daguerreotypes, popular during the 1840s and 1850s, typically depict American tradespeople, such as cobblers, carpenters, and blacksmiths, with the tools of their trade or goods that they have made. This daguerreotype references itinerancy and peddling in different ways. The unidentified photographer may have traveled throughout New England with his camera, making and selling his photographs. The subject, Joshua Hovey, was himself a man on the move, a shoemaker, grocer, and merchant willing to bring his services to towns along the Merrimack River. In the 1820s and 1830s, Porter operated along many of the same geographical networks as Hovey, selling miniature portraits and developing commercial plans for his various inventions.
Additional Media
recto; overall in frame
closed; front
closed; back