Biografie von John, Jr. PLUMBE (1809-1857)

Birth place: Wales

Death place: Dubuque, IA

Profession: Daguerreotypist

Work: LOC

Comments: He is best known for taking the earliest photographs of buildings and monuments in Wash., DC (1846). From 1832-38 he was a railroad surveyor in Virginia, but took up the daguerreotype process in 1840 in Wash., DC. He soon set up daguerreotype galleries in Boston (1841-46), Baltimore (1841-?), NYC (1843-47), Philadelphia (1842-45), Lexington, KY (1845-?), Saratoga, Louisville, New Orleans, Dubuque, St. Louis óall crowned by his "National Daguerreian Gallery" in Wash., DC (1846-50). He also published Plumbeian (1846) and National Plumbeotype Gallery (1846). However, financial problems soon forced him sell his interest in the galleries to his employees. Plumbe moved West to Dubuque, then California, and tried to interest the U.S. government in his scheme for surveying a Southern railroad route across the country. The government chose a Northern route, and in 1857 Plumbe slit his throat.

Sources: Newhall, The Daguerreotype in America, 150.