I’ve written before about viewing exhibits at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. I was there again shortly before Christmas, this time to see a temporary exhibit of daguerreotypes taken of miners and locations associated with the California Gold Rush. Since this was the subject of my novel, Now I’m Found, I considered this visit to be research.
As I researched my historical novels, I wondered at the paucity of photographs I found. I knew photographs existed at the time (I’ve written about the period between 1847 and 1852 so far), but I found few images of the Oregon Trail or of the locations I wrote about. Daguerreotypes were invented by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre in 1839. These were the first photographic images widely available. By 1860, later, cheaper photographic processes superseded daguerreotypes, so images like those I saw in the Nelson-Atkins exhibit were limited to a narrow time period.
After lunch in the Rozzelle Court at the museum, I headed for the Gold Rush daguerreotypes. I was surprised to see how small the prints were and how carefully they were framed. Most of the daguerreotypes were displayed in frames with covers, which I suppose were designed to protect the fragile prints.
I was also surprised to learn that San Francisco was one of the most photographed cities in the U.S. in the 1850s. Daguerreotypists set up shop in many locales throughout California—from Sacramento and San Francisco to smaller mining towns to specially outfitted wagons—from which they plied their trade. They preserved images of miners, mining operations, and many of the places where miners lived.
While I was researching Now I’m Found, I searched online for photographs of miners and their environs. I found several photographs depicting mining equipment such as rockers and long toms. But in this Nelson-Atkins exhibit, I found pictures of miners’ shacks and shanty towns. I was glad to see they looked similar to what I had imagined. Mac McDougall and Joel Pershing and their friend Jeremiah Huntington lived in a little cabin very much like ones I saw in the exhibit.
Themes of the museum exhibit included the rapid expansion of towns such as San Francisco and Sacramento after the discovery of gold in California, what life as a miner in the early days was like, the techniques used in early mining operations, the impact of mining on the environment, and the interactions of various races and cultures that collided in early California. Many of these themes were issues I wrestled with in Now I’m Found, so again, I was glad to see photographic support for my novel.
After I went through the daguerreotype exhibit, I moved into the next gallery at the Nelson-Atkins, which housed another special exhibit, this one on Queen Nefertari of Egypt. Her tomb was apparently raided not long after she was interred there. It was found again in the early 20th century, and the archaeologists who explored it at that time focused not only on the wealth depicted in the tomb but also on the nearby village where artisans who built and decorated the tomb lived. I know little about ancient Egypt (and don’t desire to write a book set in those times), so I learned about Egyptian religion and culture in viewing this exhibit. The Nefertari exhibit continues until March 29, 2020.
The Nelson-Atkins exhibit on Gold Rush daguerreotypes continues until January 26, 2020. If you cannot attend the exhibit, you can view many of the prints here. Other primary source materials on the California Gold Rush can be found here and here.
What have you learned from visits to museums?
