LIfe is a journey with many side roads that beckon exploration. And so it is with some of my photography projects. Recently I reached out to the Missouri Historical Society in search of images of Big Mound in Saint Louis. I already knew of the daguerreotypes produced by photographer Thomas Easterly, but had no idea of his renown as a photographer or the extent of his body of work. Not only was he was a masterful portrait daguerereotypist, but most unusual for this process, he also made images outside the studio. Plus, his studio work included a number of notable Native Americans of the 1840’s including Chief Keokuk. More will be said about this body of work in a subsequent blog.
Easterly was born in Vermont in 1809. By 1844 he was photographing landscapes in his Vermont and New York. He travelled west and in the spring of 1847 opened the first permanent gallery in Saint Louis, Missouri. Though he is best known in the midwest, he was widely recognized as one of the best daguereotypists in the United States.
Easterly continued making daguerotypes well into the 1860’s. By this time daguerotypes were out of fashion, being replaced by processes like wet plate collodion and silver prints. His stubborn refusal to adopt to new photographic process led to a sharp decline in business. By the 1870’s with his business and health failing he toiled away in relative obscurity until his death in 1882.
More information on Thomas Easterly is available on the Missouri Historical Society web site:
https://mohistory.org/blog/thomas-easterly
