A daguerreotype copy of an illustration of an eye from the Dr. John W. Draper Collection. Dr. Draper worked at New York University in 1840 when he was associated with Samuel F. B. Morse and the earliest photographic experiments in the United States. Draper produced the first portrait photograph in America, a portrait of his sister Dorothy Catherine, as well as scientific photomicrograph daguerreotypes of spectrum and frog's blood photographed through a microscope. With the assistance of his sons, he captured early photographs of the moon. Our collection also includes Draper's equipment and a large variety of photographs, both daguerreotype, albumen, and cyanotype (blue) prints from the 1840s to the 1860s donated by the photographer's family. This image is matted, not cased.
