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Humphreys, Sarah (fl. 1830-1840) to Joseph A. Humphreys

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC04501.101 Author/Creator: Humphreys, Sarah (fl. 1830-1840) Place Written: Louisville, KY Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 29 March circa 1840 Pagination: 2 p. : address ; 25.5 x 20.5 cm.

Writing to her son, she recounts the family's experiences in the city. Her daughters have attended so many parties they are running out of clothes. She wishes for a lock of her son's hair to make a bracelet. Writes that she has been to see "Daguerre's celebrated chemical pictures [Dioramas] from Paris, (oil paintings) in which, by modifying the light upon the picture, are exhibited two entirely distinct representations on the same canvas . . . ." She identifies the images as the Monastery of Mount Surrat in Catatonia, St. Eteinne's church at Paris, and the crumbling of mount Rouffiberg [?] into the Valley Goldau. Date is not listed on the letter, likely written post 1840's; see Daguerre's biography.

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