icon for Home page
icon for Kid's Home page
icon for Digital Collection
icon for Activities
icon for Turns Exhibit
icon for In the Classroom
icon for Chronologies
icon for My Collection

Online Collection
Select a transcription:

I sent the [beard by Actor? Grant? the
by [ …..] red hair..George GG]

.

Boston April 11, 1840

Dear Father
It was my intention when I left home
to let you hear from me before this, but
"circumstances alter cases" that is I could
only have told you that the times were very
hard and that the merchants get abundance
of experienced help for board, and ma[n]y
cannot get even that but have to go their
way sorrowing. As for my geting a place
here, that would suit, e[i]ther you, or myself
its all "no go" as the loafers say, so I make myself
easy on that point, I have delivered all my
letters, + c. Mr. Williams said he would do all
in his power for me and asked me
to board with him a week while I looked
for a place. I am now at J.E. Fullers 24
Franklin Place, and as I have been here
long enough for a visit I intend to
pay for my board from this time henceforth .
But I am writing a business letter
and must be brief. (You have heard much
through the papers of the Daguerreotype
or drawings produced by rays of light upon
a plate, chemically prepared. Augustus and
I went to see the specimens and were much
pleased; our ticket would entitle us to one of
the lectures, but we were too late as they had
closed delivering them. Now this can be applied
to taking miniatures or portraits on the
same principle that it takes landscapes.
Mr. Gouraud is now fitting up an apparatus [apparatus]
for this purpose if he can raise a class
of 10 or 15, he will give instruction or private
lectures making them perfectly acquainted
with the art. The plate metalic costs about
$1.50 and it is easily prepared but two minutes


(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
Contact us for information about using this image.



label levels:

In this letter to his father, young (age 18) George Fuller sings the praises of the daguerreotype, a technological advance invented only two years previously to capture images. His sentiments illustrate how quickly the idea of "taking pictures" captured the imagination of the public. Young George requests money from his father to finance a joint venture of picture taking with his older brother, Augustus, who was also an artist. George proposes to begin the sales trip by visiting the large country towns "where they have seen nothing of the kind," and vows that at seven dollars per likeness they could be out of debt in two weeks time and the loan repaid to his father in two months.

 

top of page

Letter to Aaron Fuller from George Fuller

artist   George Fuller (1822-1884)
date   Apr 11, 1840
location   Boston, Massachusetts
height   15.0"
width   8.0"
process/materials   manuscript, paper, ink
item type   Personal Documents/Letter
accession #   #L99.052


Look Closer icon My Collection icon Document Image icon Detailed info icon


ecard icon Send an e-Postcard of this object



See Also...

George Fuller (1822-1884)

"George Fuller, His Life & Works - A Memorial"

Fuller House, "The Bars"


button for Side by Side Viewingbutton for Glossarybutton for Printing Helpbutton for How to Read Old Documents

 

Home | Online Collection | Things To Do | Turns Exhibit | Classroom | Chronologies | My Collection
About This Site | Site Index | Site Search | Feedback