Moore & Ward

README.md

Pioneer Photographers from the Mississippi to the Continental Divide: A Biographical Dictionary, 1839-1865, Peter E. Palmquist, Thomas R. Kailbourn, 2005, Page 447

[Justus E. Moore and Captain Ward] received official permission to set up their daguerreian apparatus in the Capitol, including in the private chambers of Vice President Johnson and in the chamber of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs. In early March, Moore wrote that he and Ward had "taken many likenesses of the most distinguished members of the Senate and the House of Representatives." Even newly elected President William Henry Harrison sat for Moore and Ward in early March; their portrait of Harrison is thought to have been the first ever taken of a president, and probably was the last portrait taken of him before his death in April 1841.

Sources:

1. Thomas M. Weprich, "The Pencil of Nature in Washington, D.C.: Daguerre-otyping the President," Daguerreian Annual 1995 (Pittsburgh: Daguerreian Society,1995), pp. 115, 117 nn. 1-3; New York Journal of Commerce, Aug. I, 1840; John S.Craig, comp. and ed., Craig's Daguerreian Registry, vol. 3, Pioneers and Progress (Tor-rington, Conn.: John S. Craig, 1996), pp. 400-401.

2. Thomas M. Weprich, "The Pencil of Nature in Washington, D.C.: Da-guerreotyping the President," Daguerreian Annual 1995 (Pittsburgh: DaguerreianSociety, 1995), pp. 115, 117-18 nn. 7-8, 15, 19-22; idem, "Pioneer Photographers inPittsburgh, Pennsylvania," Pennsylvania History 64, no. 2 (Spring 1997): 195-96, 202;John S. Craig, comp. and ed., Craig's Daguerreian Registry, vol. 3, Pioneers and Progress(Torrington, Conn.: John S. Craig, 1996), p. 401.

3. Weprich, "Pioneer Photographers in Pittsburgh," pp. 195-96, 202.

4. St. Louis Misouri Republican, June 2, 1841; Charles Van Ravenswaay, "The Pio-neer Photographers of St. Louis," Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society 10, no. 1(Oct. 1953), pp. 48, 65; Weprich, "Pencil of Nature," pp. 116-17. The correspondencerequesting the use of the Senate committee room, as reprinted in Henry ThomasShanks, ed., The Papers of Willie Person Mangum, Vol. 3, 1839-1843 (Raleigh: StateDepartment of Archives and History, 1953): 173, cites the correspondents as Moore and"Walter," rather than Ward. In the absence of any other evidence that Moore had apartner other than Ward, "Walter" is presumed to have been a transcriptional error.

5. Ellen Beasley, "Daguerreian Artists in Tennessee," New Daguerreian Journal1, no. 5 (Apr. 1972): 18, citing W. W. Clayton, History of Davidson County, Tennessee(Philadelphia: 1880); Craig, Daguerreian Registry, p. 401; Margaret Denton Smith andMary Louise Tucker, Photography in New Orleans: The Early Years, 1840-1865 (BatonRouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1982), p. 27.6. New Orleans Daily Picayune, Mar. 27, 1842. It is not certain if the subject of thisentry was the same Justus E. Moore who wrote the pamphlet, The Warning ofThomas Jefferson, or a Brief Exposition of the Dangers to be Apprehended to our Civil andReligious Liberties from Presbyterianism (Philadelphia: Wm. Cunningham, 1844).

Photography in New Orleans: The Early Years, 1840-1865 by Margaret Denton Smith, 1982

Chapter 2, Establishment of Daguerreotype Portrait Galleries, p. 27

During the spring of 1842, others practiced their daguerreotyping skills in the Crescent City. In March, Justus E. Moore opened his rooms in a boardinghouse, Madame Berniaud's, at the corner of Canal Street. Appealing to local sentiment. Moore advertised with a testimonial to his abilities from Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans. According to Jackson's letter. Moore, one of the first to photograph him in retirement, had solicited the testimonial. Moore offered for sale likenesses of the general, which he had made the previous year at the Hermitage.[7]

Chapter 2, Establishment of Daguerreotype Portrait Galleries, p.35

Some purists preferred the beauty of the finely developed straight image, with its clear lights and shadows and the lively tone produced by gliding. However, most people preferred colored daguerreotypes, as they were more lifelike and resembled more closely traditional painting. General Jackson had praised the work of Moore with only one reservation: "Nothing wanting but the colors."[16]

7. Commercial Bulletin, March 25, 1842. See Welling, Photography in America, 48-49, for a discussion of the several men who photographed Jackson in 1845.

...

16. Commercial Bulletin, March 25, 1842

Biographical Checklist, p. 165

Moore, Justus E.
1841: made daguerreotypes of Andrew Jackson at the Hermitage.
1842: briefly daguerrean in N.O., c. Barrone and Canals sts. (New Orleans Commercial Bulletin, March 25, 1842)

Information Bulletin, Library of Congress, 1951.

p. 13

...on March 13, 1841, it is announced that Messrs. Moore and Ward, "professors of Photography... have for some weeks past been successfully engaged at the capitol in obtaining likenesses of the President... and are about about to leave Washington for the Southern and Western States..." William Henry Harrison was inaugurated on March 4, 1841, and died a month later on April 4; he has been considered the exception — the President who, though in office after the invention of photography, was never photographed, as no daguerreotype of him is now known to exist.

2. Early Daguerreotypes in the U.S. and the Nation's Capital. Photographic Presidents: Making History from Daguerreotype to Digital. Published by Cara A. Finnegan. 2021.

...in January 1841, photographers Justus Moore and a man known only to posterity as Captain Ward took rooms in a Washington, DC, hotel. They announced in the newspaper that they were in town “for a few days, where they will be prepared to take Daguerreotype likenesses in a superior style, which, being the reflected forms of the objects themselves, far surpass in fidelity of resemblance any thing which can be accomplished by the eye and hand of the artist.”[28] Despite downplaying in the ad their own skill and artistry, the photographers achieved some success and recognition. They even secured a portrait session with the new president, William Henry Harrison. In mid-March the National Intelligencer reported that Moore and Ward had “for some weeks past been successfully engaged at the Capitol in obtaining likenesses of the President, of several Members of Congress, and other distinguished personages.”[29] President Harrison, according to a Philadelphia newspaper, apparently “was delighted with the result.”[30] Harrison died within a month of his inauguration and that portrait session; the daguerreotype likely survived him but is now lost to history. As for Moore and Ward, they too moved on and by June were working in St. Louis for a brief time before moving on yet again.[31]

28. “The Daguerreotype, or Pencil of Nature,” National Intelligencer, Jan. 30,1841, Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers database. On Moore and Ward, see Thomas M. Weprich, “The Pencil of Nature in Washington, D.C.: Daguerreotyping the President,” Daguerreian Annual (1995): 116–17. See also entries on each in Pioneer Photographers from the Mississippi to the Continental Divide: A Biographical Dictionary, 1839–1865, ed. Peter E. Palmquist and Thomas R. Kailborn (Stanford,CA: Stanford University Press, 2005), 447, 611.
29. “We Understand,” National Intelligencer, March 13, 1841, Nineteenth CenturyU.S. Newspapers database.
30. “Daguerreotype Portraits at Washington,” Philadelphia Inquirer and DailyCourier, March 6, 1841, Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers database. On theHarrison daguerreotype, see also Weprich, “Pencil of Nature,” 116.
31. William Garrett Piston, Portraits of Conflict: A Photographic History of Missouri in the Civil War (Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2009), 2. See also Palmquist and Kailborn, Pioneer Photographers, 447, 611.

“The Daguerreotype, or Pencil of Nature,” National Intelligencer, Jan. 30, 1841,

jan 27-d2ifw

THE DAGUERREOTYPE, OR PENCIL OF NATURE.—Messrs. MOORE & WARD hare the honor to inform the ladies and gentlemen of Washington that they propose to remain at Brown's Hotel for a few days, where they will be prepared to take Daguerreotype likenesses in a superior style, which, being the reflected forms of the objects themselves, far surpass in fidelity of resemblance any thing which can be accomplished by the eye and hand of the artist.

Likenesses by diffused light can be taken by then in any kind of weather, during the daytime, and sitters are not by this kind of light subjected to the slightest inconvenience or unpleasant sensations, as has often proved the ease in attempts by others to obtain miniatures by the Daguerreotype.

Persons wishing to perpetuate the true resemblance of themselves or friends have now an opportunity of doing so, at a very moderate expense, and are respectfully invited to call and examine for themselves.

“We Understand.” Washington, State Credit. National Intelligencer, March 13, 1841,

We understand that Messrs. Moore & Ward, professors of Photography, who have for some weeks past been successfully engaged at the Capitol in obtaining likenesses of the President, of several Members of Congress, and other distinguished personages, are about to leave Washington for the Southern and Western States. These gentlemen, in practicing the new and beautiful art of the Daguerreotype, or "Pencil of Nature," as they happily term it in their prospectus, have not only been assiduous in their desire to please, and to gratify the curiosity of the Public, but have been eminently successful in producing photograph likenesses in a very pleasing and superior style. We have pleasure in commending them to the lovers of the fine arts, and to those persons throughout the Union who may wish to obtain a faithful resemblance of themselves or friends; and we may add, that we wish them that extensive patronage which not only the beautiful products of their art but also their uniform courtesy so well deserve.

https://www.congress.gov/browse/27th-congress

Craig's Daguerreian Registry - Moore, Justus E.

Information corrected to November, 1997; © 1996, 1997 John S. Craig

The only fact known about Justus E. Moore is that in July, 1840, he advertised in Philadelphia, Pa., claiming to be able to produce instantaneous daguerreotypes. The balance of this biography must be considered to be probability, in light of existing knowledge.

In 1841, one source recorded a partnership of "Moore and Walton" in Philadelphia. This is probably a mis-type of the name "Ward" and, in all probability, was the beginning of the Moore and Ward partnership.

In March, 1842, a Justus E. Moore opened a daguerreian gallery in a boardinghouse at the corner of Canal Street in New Orleans, La. In promoting his abilities, Moore utilized a testimonial letter from retired President Andrew Jackson, whom he had daguerreotype at his home, The Hermitage, near Nashville, Tenn. the year before. Although there has been much discussion over the years as to the "authorship" of existing images of Jackson taken at the Hermitage, the focus of this dicussion has been on daguerreotypes taken nearly four years later, just before Jackson's death in 1845.

Current research also indicates that the first daguerreotype likenesses taken in the city of Nashville, Tenn., were by an artist named Moore, who stopped at the Union Hall Hotel in 1841. In all probability this could be Justus E. Moore; it seems unlikely that two daguerreians named Moore would be operating in Nashville at essentially the same time. Another source indicates that Moore and Ward have been credited with taking the first daguerreotype likeness in Nashville, Tenn., in 1841.

It is also known that a daguerreian named J.E. (or T.E.) Moore appeared in Louisville, Kentucky, in September, 1841. A notice in the Louisville Daily Journal for September 2 reported that Moore had rooms at the Ormsby House, and would stay only a few days longer. In an August issue he was noted as T.E. Moore.

At the center of all this, however, is the itinerant daguerreian partnership known as Moore and Ward. The pair may have been been based in Pittsburgh, Pa., as they were listed in the directory there in 1841. One researcher passed the report that Ward was known only as Capt. Ward, and that he was from "the South." It is also known that Moore was a dentist before becoming an itinerant daguerreian.

In March, 1841, Moore and Ward were reported to have been in Virginia; and in April at the Bank of Columbia, Georgetown, D.C. They were also reported to have taken daguerreotypes at Brown's Hotel in Washington, D.C., the same year. Whether or not that was an extension of their April trip is not known.

In August, they were reported in Louisville, Kentucky, a time frame which corresponds to the appearance of J.E. Moore in that city. The pair may also have traveled as far west as St. Louis, Mo. in 1841; one report places them at the corner of Main and Market Streets in that city.

In late 1841, and again in mid-1842, the firm took daguerreotypes in the Capitol in Washington. In all probability this was the pair of daguerreians referred to by one source as "Moore and Walton", who set up their daguerreian apparatus in late 1840 in the Committee Room on Military Affairs in the Senate. Their appearance was referred to in a letter written in June, 1841, and noted the pair took the images during the "last Session" of the legislature. The letter also indicated a return visit was planned. This could bring the biography full circle to Moore's original 1840 claim in Philadelphia.

There is currently nothing known about either of these photographers for the next several years. It is possible (but unlikely) that Moore of Moore and Ward is the same Moore listed in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1856-1857 as Moore & Co., on Federal Street above Leacock. What argues against this is the void of information on any daguerreian activities in the city between 1841 and 1856, and the fact that if it were the same Moore, it is likely he would have noted his past successes elsewhere in promoting his business.

The Daguerreotype in Nashville, 1841-1855 by Jay Richiuso, p.p. 13

Later that year on November 12th, the paper reported that J. E. Moore had taken a room at the Union Hall and was ready to take “daguerreotype likenesses.” This was most likely Justus E. Moore who had been in Philadelphia in 1840; the Banner noted that by the 19th he was operating successfully. The newspaper reported that Moore’s operation would remain until December 25th, a Saturday, and on that day, “they will positively close their engagements in this city.” Moore took his operation to New Orleans in 1842, and to advertise his expertise there, he claimed that he had a testimonial letter from former President Andrew Jackson stating that he had taken daguerreotypes of Jackson at the Hermitage during his stay in Nashville. If Moore did capture Jackson’s likeness on a daguerreotype, it appears that this image has never been found.[5]

5. Craig, John S. Craig’s Daguerreian Registry. Internet version: http://craigcamera.com/dag/

Pioneer Photographers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by Thomas M. Weprich, 1997

p. 195-196

On May 3, 1841, Justus E. Moore and his partner, "Captain Ward," a pair of itinerant daguerreians, arrived after spending a prosperous three months in Washington, D.C.9 During that time, they enjoyed the patronage of the Capitol's high society, as well as that of many government officials, including members of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. Their success culminated with a sitting by William Henry Harrison, the newly elected president of the United States.[10]

Their achievements were illustrated in a testimonial letter published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on March 6 and reprinted in the Pittsburgh Daily Gazette on May 3, the same day as their advertisements began to appear in that newspaper. The letter recalls the success of Moore and Ward and relates that the President was "delighted" with the results.[11]

In their advertisements, both in the Washington and in the Pittsburgh newspapers, these practitioners used the title "The Daguerreotype or the Pencil of Nature,"[12] a curious choice of words. The Pencil of Nature is familiar today as the title of the first photographically illustrated book which was published in England by William Fox Talbot beginning in 1844, three years after this Pittsburgh notice appeared.'[13] In the introduction to the facsimile edition of The Pencil of Nature, published in 1979, Larry Schaaf explains that Fox Talbot himself did not invent the phrase but that the expression is first found in Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788), a book which was widely read by the educated public. Gibbon had used the phrase in a different context, but Schaaf suggests that William Jerdan, Fox Talbot's friend and editor, found it well suited to be a description of the new art of photography.[14]

Upon their arrival, Moore and Ward informed the people of Pittsburgh that they proposed to stay for "a few days" at Mrs. White's Boarding House, located near the corner of Liberty and Fourth Streets opposite Hays Street. This was not too far from Dr. Wright's dentist office and daguerreian studio. In their temporary establishment, they announced that they were "prepared to take Daguerreotype likenesses in a superior style."[15]

Early studio clients were often inconvenienced by the cancellation of appointments due to bad weather, and anxious operators took pains to claim that their special process could reduce that risk to a minimum. Accordingly, Moore and Ward's advertisement claimed likenesses could be taken in any kind of weather, during the day, and "sitters are not by this kind of light subjected to the slightest inconvenience, or unpleasant sensations; as has often proved the case in attempts by others to obtain miniatures by the Daguerreotype."[16] Just as Dr. Wright had done, Moore, who incidentally was also a dentist in his hometown of Philadelphia,[17] had also made improvements in the photographic process, but whether the partners were really able to live up to this claim is more than doubtful. Nevertheless, Moore's achievements in Philadelphia were also reported in Massachusetts[18] and in New York City.[19] In Pittsburgh, the editor of the Daily Gazette praised the work of Moore and Ward and took pains to refute the belief that a bright day was necessary for taking a portrait. This notion, he said, was "an entire mistake" and that a cloudy day was in fact more favorable than a sunny one.[20] This notice concluded, "Messrs. Moore and Ward are believed to have been eminently successful since their arrival here."[21] Initially, the two gentlemen intended to remain in the city for only "a few days," but the demand for quality likenesses kept them in the "Iron City' until the last week of May.[22]

9. Thomas M. Webprich, "The Pencil of Nature in Washington D.C.: Daguerreotyping the President," The Daguerreian Annual, Fall 1995
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. William Fox Talbot, Esq. F.R.S., The Pencil of Nature (London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longsmans, Patenoster Row, 1844).
14. William Fox Talbot, The Pencil of Nature, the Anniversary Facsimile, e.d. Larry Schaaf (New York: Hans P. Kraus Jr. Inc. 1989), 10.
15. "The Daguerreotype or the Pencil of Nature", Gazette, May 3, 1841, 2.
16. Ibid.
17. Weprich, 115.
18. "Daguerreotype Likenesses," Essex Register, Salem, Mass., August 3, 1840, 3.
19. "Daguerreotype Likeness-An Important Discovery," Philadelphia Ledger, July 31, 1840, 2. Reprinted in the New York Journal of Commerce, August 1, 1840; see Rinhart, The American Daguerreotype, 47.
20. "Dagueieorype Miniatures," Gazette, May 6, 1841, 2.
21. Ibid.
22. Their advertisements ran in the Gazette from May 3, 1841, until May 22, 1841. "The Daguerreotype or Pencil of Nature," National Intelligencer (Washington, D.C.), April 3, 1841, 2. This advertisement explains that the itinerants had an unspecified agreement to visit several western states.

Face the Lens, Mr. President: A Gallery of Photographic Portraits of 19th-Century U.S. Presidents by Clifford Krainik

On the day President Harrison delivered his ill-fated inaugural speech, March 4, 1841, he paused to have his formal photographic portrait taken in the Capitol. Harrison favored the request of photographers Justus E. Moore, a prominent Philadelphia dentist, and his partner “Captain” Ward. The two men were successfully engaged in taking daguerreotype likenesses of many of the most distinguished members of the House of Representatives and Senate. In a letter published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, President Harrison was reported to have been “delighted with the results” of the sitting.[1] Just 31 days after his inauguration, President Harrison died from pneumonia. Unfortunately, the present location of the daguerreotype portrait of the ephemeral President Harrison is unknown. The lost image is of considerable historical importance, as it represents the first photograph of a United States president taken while in office.

Philadelphia Directory, (1839), p. 178

Moore Justice E., dentist, 49 S 5th

McElroy's Philadelphia City Directory for ..., (1839), p. 178

Moore Justice E., dentist, 49 S 5th

Philadelphia Directory (1840), p. 178

Moore Justus E., dentist, 49 S 5th

---

Furthermore, in 1844, a pamphlet titled The Warning of Thomas Jefferson or a Brief Exposition of the Dangers To Be Apprehended to Our Civil and Religious Liberties From Presbyterianism by Justus E. Moore was published by WM. J. Cunningham, 104 South Third Street. This is presumably after the Philadelphia nativist riots that took place in May-June 1844. Given how close they would be (suppose 1 block ≈ 850 feet, 1700 feet) to that original Justus E. Moore's office and the rarity of the name Justus, I find it probable that these are one in the same.

The Daguerreian Annual, 1995, p. 115-118

The Pencil of Nature in Washington, DC: Daguerreotyping the President by Thomas M. Weprich

Not long after Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre introduced photography in 1839, it became a popular medium in the realm of portraiture. Due to the technical nature of the new invention, however, many of the early photographers were men with a primarily scientific rather than an artistic background. One such practitioner was Justus E. Moore, a prominent Philadelphia dentist, who was to find greater public acclaim in another profession, as a daguerreian artist.

Justus E. Moore had received presumably unsolicited praise in the local newspapers for his dentistry skills[1] and had also found time to contribute an occasional column to the Pennsylvania Inquirer, writing on topics of dental hygiene and dentistry in antiquity.[2] He quickly joined the ranks of those in the scientific community who experimented with Daguerre's new invention. The Philadelphia Ledger reported on 31 July 1840 that Moore had discovered a method which reduced the time of exposure from two and one-half minutes to "an instant."[3] It was not noted whether his accomplishment was the result of chemical improvements of his own devising or of a perfected lens. Despite his technical achievement, while he resided in Philadelphia, Moore chose to remain an amateur; as far as is known, he never opened a permanent gallery of his own, nor did he display any of his photographs at the Franklin Institute during its April[4] and October[5] exhibitions. Even so, putting dentistry "on hold,"[6] in mid-January of 1841, the amateur daguerreian packed his bags and set off for the nation's capitol. Sometime before reaching Washington, Moore wrote a letter to his friends at the Pennsylvania Inquirer in which he noted that he had recently "associated himself in business with a gentleman from the south," with the expressed intention of visiting Washington, DC, and other southern cities, in order to take daguerreotype likenesses of their citizens.[7] Later correspondence and advertisements refer to Moore's new partner as "Captain" Ward.[8]

The two men reached Washington during the last week of January, just as the lame duck administration of Martin Van Buren was preparing to leave office. Although an itinerant daguerreian by the name of Stevenson passed through the city that previous summer,' Moore and Ward were about to become the earliest photographic artists to achieve celebrity there. Immediately upon arriving, they opened for business at a local hotel. They published their first advertisement on 26 January in the Globe (fig. 1). The notice began:

"The Daguerreotype or Pencil of Nature—Messrs. Moore and Ward have the honor to inform the ladies and gentlemen of Washington City, that they propose to remain at Brown’s Hotel for a few days, where they will be prepared to take Daguerreotype likenesses in a superior style."[10]

The title of the advertisement employs a curious choice of words. The Pencil of Nature is familiar today as the title of the first photographically illustrated book, published by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1844, three years after this notice in Washington, DC.[11] In the facsimile edition of The Pencil of Nature, published in 1979, Larry Schaaf explains that Fox Talbot did not invent the phrase, but that the first use of the expression is found in Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788), a book widely read by educated people of the day. Gibbon used the phrase in a different context, but Schaaf suggests that William Jerdan, Fox Talbot’s friend and editor, found it to be suitable as a metaphor for the new art of photography.[12] The phrase was evidently a familiar one. In his article “The Emergence of a Keyword,” Alan Trachtenberg cites an untitled journal in which the expression first appeared in April 1839.[13] This may well be the first instance of the expression’s American use in this context.[14] It is likely that Dr. Moore and his associate made a similar, but independent, connection between the now-famous phrase and the photographs they made with the sun’s assistance.

Working out of their hotel room, the two daguerreians met with immediate success. They initially proposed to stay in the city for “only a few days” but quickly revised this plan. By mid-February their advertisements continued in the Washington Intelligencer as well as in the Globe. By this time they amended the notice to mention specific hours of operation, those being between 12:00 noon and 5:00 p.m. Still keeping in contact with his friends at home, Moore sent another letter to the Pennsylvania Inquirer, in which he proudly reported that his success might have been due in part to very influential political allies and revealed that he had been “assisted and encouraged in a most liberal manner by the vice president and a number of the members of congress.” The editors saw Moore’s achievements as cause for civic pride and proclaimed that this news could not help but “gratify the numerous Philadelphia friends of a meritorious artist.”[16]

It is not known why Moore and Ward received assistance from the vice president and members of Congress. Perhaps the daguerreians became social acquaintances of Richard M. Johnson, then vice president under Martin Van Buren;[17] or perhaps the politicians, like most people in America, were simply fascinated by the novelty of the daguerreotype and inclined to encourage practitioners of the new art. There also exists a possibility that Captain Ward was related to Vice President Johnson. The vice president’s biographer quotes a longtime friend of Johnson’s:

He never married, though he frequently had some respectable family to live in his house; for many of the first years of his life his own sister, Mrs. Ward and family, lived with him in the same house.[18]

Moore and his partner were still in Washington on 4 March 1841, when William Henry Harrison, the popular war hero and recent Whig candidate, became the ninth president of the United States.[19] The partners may have planned from the very beginning to take advantage of the inauguration of the new president and the departure of the old. The situation was not unlike that which Gilbert Stuart encountered in Philadelphia, when that famous artist painted George Washington and members of his
administration. Now, almost 50 years later, two daguerreians prepared to immortalize members of the new administration by recording their photographic likenesses. Two days after the inauguration, the editors of the Pennsylvania Inquirer published yet another letter from Moore, who wrote of his biggest success yet:

"In connexion [sic] with Captain Ward [we have] taken many likenesses of the most distinguished members of the Senate and the House of Representatives."[20]

Whether for political reasons, or perhaps because he, too, was captivated by the daguerreotype, Mr. Harrison "also favored the artist with a sitting."[21] Thus, for the first time in history, the president of the United States was photographed while still in office, and Moore reported that President Harrison was "delighted with the results."[22] One month later President Harrison died of pneumonia.

The precise date of the presidential photograph has not yet been determined, but Moore's announcement in the Philadelphia newspaper— March 6-suggests that the sitting could have occurred as early as inauguration day. The proximity of the daguerreians to the president at that time is also established by a letter dated 17 June 1841, written by Moore and his new (?) partner, Mr. Walter, and addressed to Senator Willie Person Magnum, chairman of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs.[23] The letter requests the use of the Naval facilities in the capitol and describes Moore's photographic activities during the "last session."[24] At that time the vice president (Mr. Johnson) had provided the photographers with the use of his official apartment, and they also were permitted to use the rooms of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs.[25] During an era when personal and national
security were of less concern than they are today, a relaxed atmosphere surrounded the capitol that
allowed the visiting daguerreians to be accommodated in congressional office space, not to mention the photographers' use of public space for personal and financial gain.[26]

The idea of making daguerreotype portraits in the Capitol itself must have had a great appeal.[27] It was not only a matter of recording the physical likenesses of the men in power; politicians already recognized the photograph as having a certain symbolic value in political image-making,[28] a concept that Harrison, the national war hero now turned politician, must have considered. There is no evidence to suggest, however, that Moore and Ward held any high aspirations of monumentalizing their sitters or that there were any plans to publish the images of government officials as engravings or lithographs—an idea Philip Haas, John Plumbe, and Edward Anthony would put to good use a few years later.[29] Nevertheless, it must be noted that this team of daguerreians was the first to make a serious effort to make a photographic record of active government officials.[30]

Moore's daguerreotype of President Harrison has not yet come to light, if, indeed, it still exists. There is a daguerreotype portrait of Harrison, attributed to Southworth and Hawes (frontis.) that is housed in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art; however, scholars now believe that this is actually a photograph of a painting,[31] one completed in the spring of 1840 by Albert Gallatin Hoit. Monroe H. Fabian claims that Hoit's portrait, now housed in the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, was the last portrait, taken from life, of William Henry Harrison.[32] This new evidence shows that the final portrait of Mr. Harrison was not a traditional painting but the product of one of the nineteenth century's most dazzling inventions: photography. The first photograph of a president of the United States, therefore, was made in 1841, taken by Moore and Ward's "pencil of nature."

Notes

I want to acknowledge the assistance given to me by Bonny Farmer and Heinz K. Henisch and thank them for their suggestions.

1. “The Teeth,” The Pennsylvania Inquirer and Daily Courier (Philadelphia), 28 April 1840, 2. The author relates his satisfaction with Moore’s dental work at some length, concluding: “The result was... completely successful... I have deemed it a duty to make this brief notice... [for the benefit of] sufferers [who] require the care of a skillful, gentle and successful operator.”
2. “Antiquity of Dental Surgery,” Pennsylvania Inquirer, 5 March 1840, 2; “The Teeth,” Pennsylvania Inquirer, 28 April 1840, 2.
3. Daguerreotype Likeness—An Important Discovery,” Philadelphia Ledger, 31 July 1840, 2.
4. “Franklin Institute,” Pennsylvania Inquirer, 25 April 1840, 2. Under the heading of daguerreotypes it was noted that Dr. Goddard displayed “several beautiful portraits” in this exhibition.
5. “Franklin Institute,” United States Gazette (Philadelphia), 8 October 1840, 2. In the review it was noted that Mr. Joseph E. Parker entered “a varied collection of Daguerreotype views.”
6. Moore apparently returned to Philadelphia some time before 1844. Evidence of his return is based upon a pamphlet written by Justus E. Moore, titled The Warning of Thomas Jefferson: Or a Brief Exposition of the Dangers to Be Apprehended to Our Civil and Religious Liberties from Presbyterianism, published in Philadelphia by Wm. J. Cunningham in 1844.
7. Daguerreotype Portraits,” Pennsylvania Inquirer, 26 January 1841, 2.
8. “The Daguerreotype, or Pencil of Nature,” Globe (Washington, DC), 26 January 1841, 3. Captain Ward’s life remains a mystery; nothing more has yet been discovered.
9. Robert Taft, Photography and the American Social Scene: A Social History, 1839-1859 (New York: Macmillan Company, 1938; reprint, New York: Dover Publications, 1964), 40.
10. “The Daguerreotype, or Pencil of Nature.”
11. William H. Fox Talbot, The Pencil of Nature (London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1844). Larry J. Schaaf, William H. Fox Talbot's The Pencil of Nature, Anniversary Facsimile. Introductory Volume, Historical Skertch, Notes on the Plates, Census with William Henry Fox Talbot, The Pencil of Nature (New York: Hans P. Kraus, Jr. Inc., 1989), 10.
12. Alan Trachtenberg, “Photography: The Emergence of a Keyword,” in Photography in Nineteenth-Century America, ed. Martha A.Sandweiss (Fort Worth: Amon Carter Museum and New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1991), 27.
13. Heinz K. Henisch and Bridget A. Henisch, The Photographic Experience 1839-1914: Images and Attitudes (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994), 199.
14. Pennsylvania Inquirer, 15 February 1841, 2.
15. Ibid.
16. A Kentuckian, Biographic Sketch of Col. Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky (New York: Saxon & Miles, 1843), 27. Vice President Johnson had served in the army with General Harrison and had great respect for the general. For this reason Johnson may have arranged to have newly elected President Harrison photographed by Moore and Ward.
17. Italics are this author’s. Leland Winfield Meyer, The Life and Times of Colonel Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky (New York: Columbia University Press, 1932), 313.
18. "Pencil of Nature,” National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), 13 March 1841, 2. “Messrs. Moore
    and Ward... have for some weeks past been successfully engaged at the Capitol in obtaining likenesses.”
19. "Tyaguerreotype Portraits in Washington,” Pennsylvania Inquirer, 6 March 1841, 2. It is not known whether any of Moore and Ward’s daguerreotypes are extant.
20. Ibid. The president’s daguerreotype was also reported in the National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), 13 March 1841, 2.
21. The Pennsylvania Inquirer editorial, discussed in note 20, was reprinted in its entirety as a testimonial for the itinerants in the Pittsburgh Daily Gazette and Times, 3 May 1842. Thomas M. Weprich, “The Early Photographic History of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1839-1904” (M.A. thesis, The Pennsylvania State University, 1991), 20.
22. Henry Thomas Shanks, ed., The Papers of Willie Person Magnum, vol. 3, 1539-1843 (Raleigh: State
    Department of Archives and History, 1953), 173.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. Moore and Ward deserve further study. The partners were in St. Louis (via Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) during the month of June and stayed “a few months.” By 11 August 1841, Moore had arrived alone in Louisville, Kentucky. Although working without his associate, he continued to use the same advertisements with the familiar title: “The Daguerreotype, or Nature’s Pencil.” Perhaps the letter to Senator Magnum was written in St. Louis and incorrectly transcribed (“Walter” should read “Ward”’), or the date was incorrectly transcribed and was actually 17 June 1842. By that time Moore may have found a new partner (Walter), and thus, the “last session” mentioned could actually mean “last year.” See Charles van Ravenswaay, “The Pioneer Photographers of St. Louis,” Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society, 10 (October 1853): 48; “The Daguerreotype, or Pencil of Nature,” Daily Missouri Republic (St. Louis), 2 June 1841, 3; Daily Journal, Louisville (Kentucky), 11 August 1841, 2.
26. Richard Rudisill, Mirror Image: The Influence of the Daguerreotype on American Society (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1971), 168.
27. Ibid.
28. See William and Estelle Marder and Sally Pierce, “Philip Haas: Lithographer, Print Publisher, and
    Daguerreotypist,” on page 21 of this Annual.
29. Rudisill, 169.
30. Van Deren Coke, The Painter and the Photograph, From Delacroix to Warhol (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1972), 307.
31. Monroe H. Fabian, “A Portrait of William Henry Harrison,” in Prologue: The Journal of the National Archives, 1 (Winter 1969): 32.

Pennsylvania Inquirer Philadelphia, PA, United States Tuesday, Feb. 27, 1838 Volume 18, Issue 49

Pennsylvania Inquirer Philadelphia, PA, United States Wednesday, Feb. 28, 1838

Pennsylvania Inquirer Philadelphia, PA, United States Tuesday, Jan. 26, 1841 Volume 24, Issue 22

Publication:Pennsylvania Inquirer Philadelphia, PA, United States Thursday, July 7, 1842 Volume 27, Issue 5

Publication:Pennsylvania Inquirer Philadelphia, PA, United States Friday, Feb. 11, 1842 Volume 26, Issue 36

Thursday, July 7, 1842 Publication: Pennsylvania Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA, United States) Volume: 27 , Issue: 5

Tuesday, May 18, 1841 Publication: Pennsylvania Inquirer (Philadelphia, PA, United States) Volume: 24 , Issue: 116

Philadelphia Inquirer (published as The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Justus M. died January 24 1895

May 3, 1841 (Page 2 of 4)
The Daily Pittsburgh Gazette (1834-1866); Pittsburgh. 03 May 1841: 2.

I have contacted someone and they responded to me claiming:

1. The identity of "Captain" Ward is not known other than that he was from the South. He was not an actual captain (I asked since military records could be helpful) and that it was an honorary title.
2. The original portrait of President Harrison is almost certainly lost, with the only chance of it ever coming to light is if someone had painted a portrait of it before it was lost.
3. Moore's daguerreotype of President Jackson may actually still exist somewhere as Moore sold a few copies.

Photography in New Orleans: The Early Years, 1840-1865 by Margaret Denton Smith, 1982

Chapter 2, Establishment of Daguerreotype Portrait Galleries, p. 27

During the spring of 1842, others practiced their daguerreotyping skills in the Crescent City. In March, Justus E. Moore opened his rooms in a boardinghouse, Madame Berniaud's, at the corner of Canal Street. Appealing to local sentiment. Moore advertised with a testimonial to his abilities from Andrew Jackson, hero of the Battle of New Orleans. According to Jackson's letter. Moore, one of the first to photograph him in retirement, had solicited the testimonial. Moore offered for sale likenesses of the general, which he had made the previous year at the Hermitage.[7]

Claim #3 seems to be corroborated by this passage: "Moore offered for sale likenesses of the general, which he had made the previous year at the Hermitage"

Also, here is his obituary:

The Catholic Telegraph, 10 April 1845

The original print by The Catholic Herald probably is out there somewhere, but I don't think it's digitized. Here's some years from 1835-1844, 1847-1848 and the Library of Congress's list.

Died, of pulmonary consumption, on board, the barque Amelia, on her passage from Messina to New Orleans, Dr. Justus E. Moore, in the 34th year of his age.

By the advice of his physicians, he was induced to seek for better health under the influence of a Southern climate, and the intelligence of his death will be received with feelings of deep regret by the large circle of friends to whom his amiable disposition and pleasing manners had endeared him.

He was endowed by nature with talents of a high order, and distinguished by his successful assiduity in the cultivation of his mind. Enraptured in the pursuit of knowledge— his constant and severe application seriously impaired his health, and his early death has only realized the gloomy anticipations of his friends. When the storm of fanaticism and religious proscription raged with unprecedented fury in our devoted city. during the past eventful year-when the "No-Popery' cry resounded through the disgraced district of Kensington, and the buruing dwellings left no doubt as to the import of the words-and when the sacred temples of the living God were ruthlessly given to
the flames—-and thousands of our citizens beheld. the scene with undisguised feelings of holy delight--at that fearful period Dr. Moore did not shrink from the open and tearless expression of his indignant reprobation of the unjust and anti-American proscription: and proved himseif the eloquent advocate of
the principles of civil and religious liberty.

The subsequent publication by him, "The Warning of Thomns Jefferson," exerted an immense influence on the public mind and gained for Dr. Moore the respect and admiration of every friend of the equal rights of man.

The malignant fury off fanaticism and proscription did not fail to single him out as a target for its poisoned arrows. To avoid the force of his appeal to the better feelings of the community, he was with singular inconsistency charged with being a Jesuit in disguise-though he was not a member of the Catholic church, and had frequently disavowed all connection with it.

He was also attacked over the signature of "An American Citizen," by one who was evidently conscious that his own name and reputation would add but little to the influence of his Reply-or was apprehensive that the vulgar scurrility of the production, in connection with its utter disregard of truth, might not favorably affect his own standing before the public. He, however. manifested more prudence than valor, in waiting till after Dr. Moore had sailed for Europe, and may congratulate himself that even the shadow of his name will escape the scorching castigation which his falsehoods merited, and may exult as the degenerate descendant of his Aboriginal ancestors-who always indeed discharged their poisoned arrows tinder cover-but never waited till the adversary had retired.

Dr. Moore has now passed from among us, and left a name for the admiration of who knew him. His friends may fondly indulge the hope, that as the termination of his days approached-and the coming event cast its shadow before'-the light of Divine grace was shed abundantly upon him, and that he now reposes before that heavenly throne-which is all love—and we may not check the natural feelings of grateful hearts, and breathe forth in Christian charity — may he rest in peace! Catholic Herald.

---

Indeed, on Feburary 25 1845, it does list the Barque Amelia having one J. A. Moore having died. (United States. Migration Records 1830–1845 | New Orleans. Migration Records 1830–1845) ("United States records," images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9T2-97Q8-4?view=index : May 30, 2025), image 564 of 702; United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Image Group Number: 007682522). This image claims it embarked from Trieste with Ship Master Gimory (both Messina and Trieste are cities in Italy, and all the other passengers are Italians, so I don't find this controversial — though they are basically on the other ends of the country).

Probably more usefully, it gives us a definitive date for his birth and death.

Birth: 1810-1811
Death: 10 April 1845

Moore was 34 at the time of his taking a picture of President Harrison. Unfortunately, there's no findagrave.com records for any Justus Moore born 1810 died 1845 (even +/- 10 years for both dates). I will try to find a copy of the Catholic Herald but I suspect it'll say the same thing and not something like "Before he passed, he proclaimed that the first photograph of a living president had been hidden away in a bank in Paris where the code is the Fibonacci sequence"

The Catholic Herald - Vol. XII No. 46 Thursday, November 14, 1844, Whole Number: 618.

I am also certain he wrote something called "Evils from Presbyterianism"

And also The Materialist