[Mrs. Thomas Ustick Walter and Her Deceased Child] 1844 - 1848

This daguerreotype, made by W. & F. Langenheim, depicts Mrs. Thomas Ustick Walter with her deceased child. In the Victorian era, death was a common part of life, and post-mortem photography emerged as a way to memorialize the deceased, especially infants. This image reflects the cultural practices surrounding mourning and remembrance in 19th-century America. The mother's somber expression and the child's still form speak to the emotional toll of infant mortality, a frequent tragedy in this period. Photography studios emerged as important institutions, democratizing portraiture and creating new visual codes for representing life and death. This daguerreotype, housed in a decorative case, would have been a treasured object, kept as a private memento within the family. To further understand this image, we might look to death and mourning rituals of the time through sources like journals, letters, and other visual and material culture, revealing how families coped with loss and constructed lasting memories.