In April 2010, I was glad to travel from France (Aix-Marseille University) to present a paper at the Exploring Childhood Studies conference, hosted by the Rutgers University-Camden Childhood Studies GSO. Since then I have benefited from the network initiated at Rutgers and my research has continued to be at the crosswords between Childhood Studies and Visual Studies. Having completed my doctorate in 2012 in American Studies, I would be very honored and more than happy to be considered as one of the panelists at the 26th Annual Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association Conference in Philadelphia next November. My paper aims to present the role of children in the daguerreotype portraits from the 19th century and those made primarily before the Civil War. The children’s images will be examined as motives (for being photographed) and as agents in relation to the daguerreotypist making the shot. The diversity of representations will be studied, taking into account gender, race and class and the role of both mother and father, bearing in mind that children happened to be photographed alone. As such, a newspaper boy daguerreotype is a good example of an early consumer of popular culture. Emphasis will be placed on the reasons why these portraits of children were so successful and widespread in the United States more so than in any other countries, mainly France where the technique originated and the United Kingdom. This paper will present a contemporary perspective with the recent edition (2013) of Daguerre’s American Legacy, co-written by the exhibition’s curators, François Brunet, Professor of American Art and Literature at the University of Paris-Diderot, and Wm. B. Becker, director of the American Museum of Photography, contributing international scholarship on the subject (http://www.photographymuseum.com/bry...).
About the presenterAnne Lesme
Anne Lesme holds a Ph.D. in American studies (Aix-Marseille University, France). She is an associate professor of English at Aix-Marseille University on the Multimedia campus. Her research fields are at the crossroads of Childhood studies and Visual studies. Her areas of specialization include children and family, art and politics in the United States. Most recently she has concentered on American social history, history of the family and photography in the 19th and 20th centuries.