My Daguerreotype Boyfriend

Lookin’ good, Leo.

theparisreview:

“I’ve fallen in love or imagine I have; went to a party and lost my head. Bought a horse which I don’t need at all.” —Leo Tolstoy, January 25, 1851

Those are some choice last words, Captain Oates. And a great sweater to boot. 

From submitter laurielover1912

This is Captain Lawrence Oates, a member of Captain Scott’s doomed Antarctic expedition of 1910-1912. Oates was a cavalry officer who was in charge of the ponies on the expedition. I’ve had a huge historical crush on him for years and have him to blame for my username. Oates is best remembered for walking out into the blizzard to his death when he couldn’t continue due to the pain he was in, thereby giving his friends more chance of pulling through (sadly they didn’t). Just before leaving the tent, he famously spoke the words: ‘I’m just going outside and may be some time.’ The epitome of the competent but reserved English hero, he was also one very fine looking man.

michellelegro:

Any Daguerreotype BF worth his salt loves his dog. 

tuesday-johnson:

ca. 1860-80’s, [tintype self-portrait of photographer E.A. Scholfield in a rocking chair, cradling a dog], E.A. Scholfield

via Connecticut History Online, Mystic Seaport, Scholfield Collection

Portrait of an unidentified man (c. 1844-1860) by Matthew Brady’s studio (Library of Congress)

Just one of the beautiful decayed daguerreotypes featured at The Public Domain Review

Henry Adams, age 20, 1858, at his Harvard graduation.

The grandson of John Quincy Adams (and the great-grandson of founding father John Adams), during the civil war Henry Adams was private secretary to his father, a Congressman in the House of Representatives.

His influential circle of friends was known as “The Five of Hearts,” and included Lincoln’s secretary John Hay. He later became friends with Walt Whitman, Rudyard Kipling, Teddy Roosevelt, and many others.  

We highly suggest Patricia O’Toole’s biography The Five of Hearts for more on this gregarious studmuffin.

Submitted by Mary Mann

thewriterwiner says:

This is my great-grandfather. He was born in 1876, and he was maybe in his 20s here, so I’d date the photo around early 1900s. He was a performer in Vaudeville (so I’ve been told), and he was born in a small town in New Hampshire. Both his parents were French-Canadians.

Thanks for the sexy strongman!

John Hay in his twenties, while serving Abraham Lincoln as his personal secretary, (played by Joseph Cross in the movie). He later became Secretary of State under Teddy Roosevelt.

Described by a colleague as “quite young, and looks younger than he is; of a fresh and almost boyish complexion; quite a favorite among the ladies, and with a gift for epigram and repartee.”

Happy New Year! You look like you’re in need of a calendar. A sexy calendar.

Never you fear, My Daguerreotype Boyfriend has got you covered with our double-sided 2013 +1863 calendar, complete with Civil War love letters and plenty of hunky dead dudes to get you through the year. 

Our next ship date is January 7th, so get in those orders now so you can start coordinating your schedule with your own Civil War boyfriend. Gettysburg is only a few months away!

Purchase yours today.

Digby Mackworth Dolben, age 19, c. 1867

This English poet frequently wore a monk’s habit while at Eton and wrote obsessive verse about a classmate with whom he was in love. He died at 19 while swimming with his tutor in a river, though some suggest he might have committed suicide, distraught over his unrequited love. 

“The Strangely Troubled Life of Digby Mackworth Dolben,” Public Domain Review

Submitted by thecreepsies

tuesday-johnson:

ca. 1890-1900’s, [tintype portrait of a gentleman with his camera bag]

via Cowan’s Auctions