Dorothy Catherine Draper (6 August 1807–10 December 1901) was an artist, educator and chemist notable for being the subject of the earliest existent
daguerreotype
Daguerreotype was the first publicly available photography, photographic process, widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process.
Invented by Louis Daguerre and introduced worldwid ...
portrait made in the United States.
[Portrait of Dorothy Catherine Draper]
National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center is a historical museum in Washington, D.C. It collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and m ...
[H. W. Lanier, The Marvels of Photography. ''The World's Work'', Vol. XI, No. 3, Jan. 1906, pp. 7163-7173.][Joan Marans Dim and Nancy Murphy Cricco]
''The Miracle on Washington Square: New York University''
Lexington Books (2001), p. 64 Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...
Early life
Dorothy Catherine Draper was born 6 August 1807 in
St. Helens,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
in England,
[Howard R. McManus]
"The Most Famous Daguerreian Portrait: Exploring the History of the Dorothy Catherine Draper Daguerreotype,"
''The Daguerreian Annual'' 1995, pp. 148–171. to John Christopher Draper (1777–1829), a
Wesleyan
Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...
clergyman and Sarah (née Ripley) Draper (1773–1834). She was baptised on 2 November 1807 by Revd. Dr.
Thomas Coke. She had two sisters, Elizabeth Johnson and Sarah Ripley, and a brother, the scientist, philosopher, physician, chemist, historian, and photographer
John William Draper
John William Draper (May 5, 1811 – January 4, 1882) was an English polymath: a scientist, philosopher, physician, chemist, historian and photographer. He is credited with pioneering portrait photography (1839–40) and producing the first deta ...
. Her father often needed to move the family while serving various congregations throughout England.
Following her father's death in
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
in February 1829, Dorothy moved with her mother and siblings to the US state of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, where her brother John hoped to acquire a teaching position at a local
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
college.
Move to America
In 1832 the Draper family settled in
Mecklenburg County, Virginia
Mecklenburg County is a county (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 30,319. Its county seat is Boydton, Virginia, Boydton.
His ...
, east of Christiansville (now
Chase City). Although he arrived too late to obtain the prospective teaching position, John William Draper established a laboratory in Christiansville. Here he conducted experiments and published eight papers before entering medical school. Dorothy Catherine Draper provided financial support for his medical education by giving drawing and painting lessons. In March 1836, John graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
The Perelman School of Medicine (commonly known as Penn Med) is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private, Ivy League research university located in Philadelphia. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of M ...
. That same year, he began teaching at
Hampden–Sydney College
Hampden–Sydney College (H-SC) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Men's colleges in the United States, college for men in Hampden Sydney, Virginia. Founded in 1775, it is the oldest privatel ...
in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
. Dorothy became the life-long assistant to her brother, sharing his interests in scientific research and "rendering him valuable aid." The coloured plates that illustrate her brother's memoirs are her work. In addition, she homeschooled his children, several of whom went on to successful careers in scientific research.
[
]
Early photographic subject
John William Draper
John William Draper (May 5, 1811 – January 4, 1882) was an English polymath: a scientist, philosopher, physician, chemist, historian and photographer. He is credited with pioneering portrait photography (1839–40) and producing the first deta ...
made several important innovations in photochemistry
Photochemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the chemical effects of light. Generally, this term is used to describe a chemical reaction caused by absorption of ultraviolet (wavelength from 100 to 400 Nanometre, nm), visible ligh ...
, which improved on Louis Daguerre's process and helped establish portrait photography
Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective Photographic lighting, lighting, Painted photography backdrops, backdrops, and poses. A portr ...
as a viable practice. During this period he produced clear photographs that were regarded as the first life photographs of a human face. Draper took a series of pictures, with a 65-second exposure in sunlight, in his Washington Square studio at New York University in 1839 or 1840, within the first year of Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre's announcement in Paris of his invention of the daguerreotype process.[ The first ones, of a female assistant whose face was covered with a thin layer of flour to increase contrast, were not preserved. At this time, no later than July 1840, Draper also photographed his sister, Dorothy Catherine Draper,][ who was required to pose unblinking for a 65-second exposure with her face also dusted with white flour to enhance the contrast,][ and one of those pictures (see image above) became known to the public via the letter which Draper sent to ]John Herschel
Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (; 7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor and experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical work. ...
in 1840. Several copies were made of this picture in the 19th century, and the photograph attached with Draper's letter was also likely a copy made by Draper himself.[
]
Family
Whenever her brother's wife Antonia Caetana de Paiva Pereira (née Gardner, – 1870) became ill, Dorothy Draper was as a mother to their children. She devoted her life to supporting her brother in his work and helping to raise and homeschool his children.[
Her great-niece was ]Antonia Maury
Antonia Caetana de Paiva Pereira Maury (March 21, 1866 – January 8, 1952) was an American astronomer who was the first to detect and calculate the orbit of a spectroscopic binary. She published an important early catalog of stellar spectra ...
, the American astronomer, while her nephews included the chemist and surgeon John Christopher Draper
John Christopher Draper (March 31, 1835 – December 20, 1885) was an American chemist and surgeon. He was a son of multidisciplinary scientist John William Draper and a brother of astronomer Henry Draper.
Life and work
Draper was born at Christ ...
, the doctor and amateur astronomer Henry Draper
Henry Draper (March 7, 1837 – November 20, 1882) was an American medical doctor and amateur astronomer. He is best known today as a pioneer of astrophotography.
Life and work
Henry Draper's father, John William Draper, was an accomplished do ...
and the meteorologist Daniel Draper. The latter named his daughter Dorothy Catherine Draper (1888–1972) after her.
Death
Dorothy Catherine Draper died in December 1901 aged 94 at the Draper family home at Hastings-on-Hudson, New York
Hastings-on-Hudson is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the administrative divisions of New York#Town, town of Greenburgh, New York, Greenburgh in the state of New Yo ...
[Miss Dorothy Catherine Draper, New Jersey, U.S., Deaths and
Burials Index, 1798-1971] and was buried with her brother and sister-in-law in Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope, Brooklyn, South Slope/Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, Win ...
in Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
. She never married.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Draper, Dorothy Catherine
1807 births
1901 deaths
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
People from St Helens, Merseyside
English emigrants to the United States
American chemists
American women chemists