915
show his “hillotypes” to fellow daguerreotypists; one
of those who would see them was Charles R. Meade.
Both brothers were honorary members of the Societe
Libre des Beaux Arts and Henry brought funds they had
collected for its proposed monument to Daguerre and
Nicephore Niepce. He visited Daguerre’s widow and
niece at Bry, took pictures of Daguerre’s chateau and
grave monument, and operated in his laboratory.
When last in Europe in 1854–55, Charles visited
London and studied new photographic processes in
Paris. On June 8, 1855, he took his own daguerreotype
of Rachel, star of the Comedie Francaise, as Phedre,
when she came to have her portrait taken by the studio
of Mayer and Pierson. Similar arrangements allowed
him to take tragédienne Adelaide Ristori, also rumored
to be coming to America, the King of Portugal, and Ros-
sini. He took outdoor photographs of Notre Dame, the
Palais de l’Industrie, and the Cirque de l’Impératrice,
all published in the Photographic and Fine Art Journal,
and stayed long enough to arrange the Meade exhibit at
the Exposition Universelle. The following year, Charles
invented a process for taking photographs on silk.
Rita Bott
Biography
The Meade family arrived from England at the port of
New York on November 7, 1834, on the ship Philadel-
phia. They lived in Troy, New York, and later moved to
Albany. In their daguerreotype business, Henry W. M., b.
London, c.1823, and Charles R. Meade, b. London, April
11, 1826, were assisted by their father, Henry Richard,
and their sister, Mary Ann Meade, both daguerreotypists
and photographers. Henry R. claimed to have helped
start the fi rm in 1841 in a petition for fi nancial support
made to the National American Photographic Associa-
tion in 1872. Mary Ann, who ran the business in its last
years, died January 17, 1903, and was described as “the
fi rst woman to have practiced the art of Daguerre” in her
Brooklyn Eagle obituary. Both she and her father were
pictured on Meades’ “Frontispiece for Albums” with
Daguerre, Niepce de St. Victor, Charles R., and Henry
W. M. Meade. The whole family, including their mother,
Mary Ann, lived at 233 Broadway, New York, after
relocating from Albany in 1850 and until each brother
married. Charles married Marietta F. Roff on June 17,
1851, and they had two children, Kate F. and Henry A.
Meade. Henry W. M. Meade married Sarah Meserole
on September 7, 1853; their two children were Sarah
and Jessie Meade.
Meade Brothers began in 1842 at a Douw’s Building
in Albany, New York, and moved to the Exchange in
- In addition to taking pictures, offering instruc-
tions, and producing cases and other items in their
“manufactory” for sale and their own use, they became
major importers and dealers of equipment and supplies.
They operated branches in Buffalo, Saratoga Springs,
and possibly Canada for a time but relocated completely
to 233 Broadway in 1850. In July, 1853, they opened
a branch in Williamsburgh, L. I., (later Brooklyn) at
1st and South 7th Streets. The 1855 New York State
Census reported that the Meade fi rm’s annual product
of daguerreotypes was valued at $15,000, its tools and
machinery at $1,500, and its stock at $10,000 [$1: 1855
= $22.46: 2006]. It experienced fi nancial diffi culties
as early as January, 1857 due to Charles being ill with
tuberculosis. After spending the next winter in Havana,
Cuba, he died at St. Augustine, Florida, on March 2,- Business remained diffi cult and a branch at 805
Broadway was unsuccessful. The main gallery was refi t-
ted and operated through the war years. After Henry died
in New York on January 25, 1865, Mary Ann continued
the business for another four years.
The fi rm won one gold, fi ve silver (one for calotypes
in 1848), and one bronze medal from the American
Institute and a diploma from the New York State Agri-
cultural Society. Complimentary letters were received
from Daguerre; Lola Montez; Fletcher Webster; Louis-
Philippe, King of the French; Emperor Nicholas I of
Russia; Queen Victoria; and Napoleon III for receipt
of either Meade pictures or medals based upon them.
They exhibited twenty-four daguerreotypes at the Great
Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations,
Crystal Palace, Hyde Park (1851) and won “Honorable
Mention” for their exhibits at the Great Exhibition,
New York (1853–54), and the Exposition Universelle,
Paris (1855).
See also: Daguerre, Louis-Jacques-Mandé; Hill, Levi
L.; and Lacan, Ernst.Further Reading
Bott, Rita Ellen, “Charles R. Meade and His Daguerre Pictures,”
in History of Photography, 8, no. 1, Jan.-Mar. 1984, pp.
33–40.
“The Brothers Meade,” in Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing-Room
Companion, 2, no. 24, June 12, 1852, 377; “The Brothers
Meade and the Daguerreian Art,” Photographic Art Journal,
3, no. 5, May 1852, 293–295. [Same article as in Gleason’s,
with addition of a poem]
Canfi eld, C.W. “Portraits of Daguerre,” and “More Portraits of
Daguerre,” in American Annual of Photography, 1891, 26–36;
1893, 77–81.
“Daguerreotype Galleries of Meade Brothers,” in Gleason’s
Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, 4, no. 6, Feb. 5, 1853,
96; “Our Daguerreian Galleries—No.1, The Meade Gallery,
New York,” in Photographic Art Journal, 5, no. 2, Feb. 1853,
frontispiece, 99–100.
“Daguerreotype of Daguerre,” in New York Tribune, Oct. 19,
1850.
“Henry William Mathew Meade,” New York Illustrated News, 3,
no. 67, Feb. 2, 1861, 236.