Mathew Brady, Juliet Brady and Mrs. Haggerty

Although scarcely more than twenty when he opened his first daguerrean gallery in New York City in 1844, Mathew Brady quickly earned accolades for his superior portraits. His clientele grew to include prominent men and women from every quarter, and his collection of images of the famous was soon unsurpassed. While daily studio operations remained the province of his camera operators and technicians, Brady provided the creative vision and marketing expertise that by the Civil War made him the best-known photographer in America. This daguerreotype pictures Brady with his wife, Julia, and a Mrs. Haggerty, believed to be his sister.