The National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian revealed that it had acquired the oldest known image of a U.S. First Lady for its permanent collection. The newly rediscovered image of the former First Lady Dolley Madison is a remarkable quarter-plate daguerreotype by John Plumbe Jr. that most likely dates to 1846.
The new acquisition joins the first known photograph of a U.S. President, an 1843 daguerreotype of John Quincy Adams by Philip Haas, which the National Portrait Gallery purchased for its collection in 2017.
Sold at Sotheby's Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including the Americana auction on Friday, June 28, in New York City, the daguerreotype in its original leather case was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery for $456,000.
Sotheby's described it as "one of exceedingly few surviving photographs of the woman who has defined for two centuries what it means to be the First Lady of the United States of America."
Joseph L., Smithsonian Secretary, and Emily K. Gidwitz supported the purchase. Additional funding was raised privately by the Portrait Gallery.
Lonnie G. Bunch III, Secretary of the Smithsonian, expressed its excitement to see the earliest known photograph of a First Lady, Dolley Madison, join the earliest known photograph of an American President, John Quincy Adams, in the National Portrait Gallery's collection.
He added that this artifact will provide the Smithsonian another opportunity to tell a more robust American story and illuminate women like Madison's important role in the nation's progress.
Furthermore, Ann Shumard, senior curator of photographs at the museum, also claimed that the National Portrait Gallery is delighted to have acquired this exceptional work on behalf of the nation, and it will now be preserved in perpetuity for the public.
