This daguerreotype by James McClees was taken to assist miniature painter John Henry Brown in painting a portrait. Brown frequently utilized photography, freeing both parties from tedious sittings. Brown’s account book names the sole male sitter in 1861 (if the list is complete) as Thomas H. Powers, Esq., making him the likely subject. A wealthy industrialist, Powers, with others in the city’s elite, was reported by the Philadelphia Tribune in 1871 as protesting race riots that resulted in the murders of several of Philadelphia’s black residents.
Citation: James E. McClees (1821-1887), portrait of male sitter. Daguerreotype; leather case. Philadelphia, 1861. 2001.7