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Primary sourcePhotographca. 1850

William Lloyd Garrison, daguerreotype by Southworth and Hawes

Southworth and Hawes · ca. 1850

A mid-19th-century daguerreotype portrait of abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison.

This daguerreotype is a direct photographic portrait of Garrison himself, taken at mid-career.

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Sepia-toned daguerreotype portrait of a bald older man with wire-rimmed spectacles, dark coat, high white collar and dark bow tie, turned three-quarters to the left against a dark backdrop. Tarnished, scratched plate edges frame the image.
Southworth and Hawes, William Lloyd Garrison, ca. 1850. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

About this source

What it is

This is a daguerreotype photograph of William Lloyd Garrison made around 1850 by the studio of Southworth and Hawes. It shows a bald older man wearing wire-rimmed spectacles, a dark coat and a high white collar, turned slightly to one side against a dark background. The daguerreotype is now held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Why it matters

Southworth and Hawes were a well-known photography studio, and this portrait captures Garrison at mid-century, by which time he had become a famous and controversial public figure for his antislavery editing and lecturing. Photographs like this one gave the public a direct, lifelike image of reformers, shaping how they were remembered.

Look closer

  • What impression does Garrison's pose and expression give of his character?
  • Why might a studio like Southworth and Hawes have wanted to photograph a figure like Garrison?
  • What can and can't a single portrait like this tell us about a person's life and work?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of William Lloyd Garrison on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Front page of The Liberator, Boston, Friday, January 3, 1862, Vol. XXXII, No. 1, Whole No. 1619. A woodcut vignette of figures, including a standing woman, sits above the masthead. Dense columns of small printed text fill the page.Newspaper article

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