These remarkable surviving images show the actual faces of older ladies who were all born in the 1700s and photographed in the 1850s. They were around at least 70 years old at that time and probably were the oldest generation of women to be photographed.
The invention of the daguerreotype in 1839 - one of the earliest photographic process - made photography more affordable, even to the middle classes.
Some of these portraits may have been taken by American photographer, Matthew Brady.
Brady was born in 1823 to immigrant Irish farmers in Warren County, N.Y. He left the countryside for the New York around 1840 and taught himself 'daguerreotype' photography. He then opened his own photographic studio. Brady produced portraits and, after five years of success, he started a studio in Washington.
He would later go on to take photographs of U.S. Presidents in what was still a fledgling art. These included Abraham Lincoln in 1862 and U.S First Lady Dolley Madison who was the wife of James Madison - President of the United States from 1809 to 1817 - in 1848.
The invention of the daguerreotype in 1839 - one of the earliest photographic process - made photography more affordable, even to the middle classes.
Some of these portraits may have been taken by American photographer, Matthew Brady.
Brady was born in 1823 to immigrant Irish farmers in Warren County, N.Y. He left the countryside for the New York around 1840 and taught himself 'daguerreotype' photography. He then opened his own photographic studio. Brady produced portraits and, after five years of success, he started a studio in Washington.
He would later go on to take photographs of U.S. Presidents in what was still a fledgling art. These included Abraham Lincoln in 1862 and U.S First Lady Dolley Madison who was the wife of James Madison - President of the United States from 1809 to 1817 - in 1848.
