Man with Dog Daguerreotype, 1850-55

Daguerreotype, 1850-55
Historic Northampton 59.323

THIS UNIDENTIFIED SITTER is most likely a resident of Northampton, Massachusetts, or its environs. This is a very important portrait, since it is one of the few surviving images of a man in a work smock. We date this photograph by the man's short side hair and his narrow trouser legs, both typical of the early part of the decade.

The most striking element in this portrait is, of course, the woolen smock, so unfamiliar to American clothing collections. It is visible here in its full length and presents a clear view of many of its construction details. The construction method used in this case is somewhat different from the usual shirt-style smock with its separate sleeves: to make it, a wide length of wool was cut on the fold, in one piece, in a width measured from wrist to wrist with the arms out straight. Sleeves were formed by cutting the piece in a modified T-shape, leaving wide sleeves tapering to the wrists and a straight lower body. A bound slash at the front and a band collar finish the neck, which is fastened with two metal buttons. The sleeves are neatly darted into the band cuffs, which also button. Triangular gussets, placed to reduce strain, show at the side vent and at the top of the shoulder, and diamond-shaped gussets are no doubt used at the underarms for strength, as they are in a smock?shirt made on the same plan. A starched white shirt collar, the edge of a spotted stock, and the back collar of a black coat show above the band collar of the smock, indicating that a smock was a pullover all garment worn for warmth as well as to protect better clothing. The smock is not well documented in this country, but it is occasionally found in casual references in contemporary American fiction, especially the "farmer's smock," which, when it is described, seems mostly to have been of home?spun. English horse handlers and coachmen are said to have worn the smock.

This gentleman's fancy plush "muffin" hat has a knotted braid band and three small buttons up the front. To find the muffin hat in a photograph is something of a triumph, for while it is spoken of as a favored style of coachmen in England for some years, it is not prominent in fashion information in this country.

The trousers, either of wool or cotton, are still, as mentioned, narrow in the legs of the 1840s style and are of the light-tan color so often worn with black coats and vests.

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